Trim Stab,
Did OASC turn you down? Is that why you’re quite so anti-RAF?
You really should have tried harder at school.
“I would just like to see the RAF take the same cuts as the RN and Army.”
They have done, and then some.
By most metrics (numbers of personnel, number of frontline squadrons, etc.) the RAF has actually been cut back more than the Army or the Navy since the Cold War. Despite being a more relevant post Cold War service…..
“I completely accept that we need a core QRA force - but nowhere near the level that we currently have.”
A core QRA force, eh? What do you think? Sufficient to maintain two jets on alert, 24/7 at each of two airfields, one North, one South?
That’s what NATO expect us to do.
That’s what we do. That is a core QRA force. It’s quite easy to determine what absolute "minimum levels" of QRA are required – two interceptors ready to go 24/7 (with reserves) at each QRA station – each of those stations needing at least two squadrons to sustain the commitment and retain currency more broadly.
Don’t forget: QRA is f*cking meaningless if you only do it two days per week.
But you do want to ‘augment’ the Strategic nuclear deterrent?
What, six Trident subs instead of four? What on earth for?
And your remarks about the Red Arrows are a disgrace. They “should be ashamed of themselves posing about wasting taxpayers' money crashing jets when there are young men risking their lives and limbs on the front line against a real threat…?” They, and FJ AD are ‘REMFs’?
Anyone who comes out with that sort of crap is either a troll, or a clueless chimp.