I dont see why there should be a sh1tstorm about the leak. Theres nothing of great substance in it.
I just find it extremely hollow to whimper "wolf" on UK AD when important elements of it particularly ASACS have been repeatedly salami sliced since 1998. Now, it either matters to you or it doesnt. If thats the party line that is going to be taken, fine, on their heads be it. I personally think its a bit late for this kind of bleeding stump parade, but what do I know?
I was not just referring to the loss of the CRC's and not just the south as well. From what I know we do not have the coverage in the north in the Shetlands/Faeroes/Iceland gap that we used to. The UK attitude towards the NATO ACCS programme for instance, has been highly questionable to put it politely. Our reputation on the other side of the channel for the way we have handled this particular aspect is not quite what it could be.
By all means, make the most of the power of networking to allow you to do more with less sites and less people, which is what happened with IUKADGE and UCMP and it has to be relative to the perceived threat, which is not what it was, but neither is it non existant.
Were there not also serious questions in the recent past asked regarding the amount of hours per month and per year available for training for UK AD squadrons? The incident where an F3 and both members of the crew were lost?
But going forward, there has to be a minimum that the system can be trimmed to and still be able to deliver against the requirement and in my very humble professional opinion, it has gone as far as it possibly can.
Now, I realise he may be just one of many senior airships and I dare say that he either has not been party to (or does not get to influence) a number of decisions that have led us to this point. As you say, maybe this is the first real time he has been thrust into the proverbial limelight, delivering a speech that wasn't even written for him.
Jacko, you obviously know him better than I do. And he's a senior airship and I'm just another civvy.
His opinion is obviously going to matter more than mine and I'm not even part of his target audience. Such is life. But, as one with an active personal and professional interest in matters AD going back the best part of 30 years, I have serious misgivings on the way the UK is dealing with this matter and find the statement too little, to the wrong audience, too late.