acmech1954 wrote...
...A senior Pongo was on the news a couple of nights ago questioning the number of FJ for the RAF and Carriers for the Navy, but no mention about his Army, somewhat biased methinks.
...
possibly because the whole of the Army is involved in A'stan - AS90 Regiments re-roled to Light Gun, Challenger 2 crews re-roled to crew just about anything that moves in theatre - the Army has many 'traditional war' legacy systems that don't fit into COIN very well, but it has demonstrated that it is willing and able to put them (and the corresponding 'glamour and prestege' surrounding those roles) into storage and re-role in order to prosecute the war we are actually fighting. the RAF on the other hand, has created/allowed a
perception (and quite a convincing perception) to evolve that it really isn't interested in A'stan - sure it makes some crumbs-from-the-table changes like Sentinel, RQ-9, RAPTOR, and a couple of extra C-17's - but that really the RAF is only interested in pointy fast jets, and the wars in which they are of use.
there is a balance to be struck between 'the war', and 'a war', but 'the RAF' as represented by Jockstrap got both the balance, and the presentation of that balance, badly wrong.