Fortissimo and iRaven
gentlemen,
You realy must learn to read what has been written here, and stop making yourselves look silly.
iRaven, your comments clearly show you as a journo and therefore I am reluctant to have any further responce to you other than to say this; if you look at all recent wars, the 'clearing of the skies' was undeniably achieved by the USAF and USN with a little help from one or two others (even the French!). The F3's did not contribute to the 'air war' during GW1 or GW2 and as for Bosnia/Kosovo, they weren't there either in the begining. As far as I recall, they weren't there for this latest 'shindig' at the start in Afghanstan. Your idea is correct, but unless the fighters are going to go in on day one, when there is some opposition, they are worthless because the Americans will have dealt with the air threat long before we can even muster enough fighters to go out! Now take a look at the MPA involvement from day1, look at the SH involvement, the AEW and Truckie involvement. Are you getting the message yet???
Fortissimo, If you read my comments, you will see that right up to my posting 1051, I have never doubted what CAS was alledged to have told everyone at KSS about his fight to keep Nimrod. It isn't until post 1051, a week after the KSS meeting that, due the complete lack of public concern/outrage whatsoever from ANY airship, including CAS and ACAS, I have thus arrived at the conclusion that CAS did not fight the decision as hard as he claims.
Now, of course I can't substantiate that; I was no more at the meeting with the PM than you were. But I still maintain that he and several of his colleagues should go for the following single reason.
CAS (allegedly) argued like crazy to keep Nimrod. He claims that he had a face-to-face meeting with the PM on the saturday (I think it was) If I believed that, then I have to believe that the head of the RAF, who was directly involved in negotiations with the PM, was unable to convince him that this island nation needs MPA (Nimrod) coverage.
So, CAS is faced with an intollerable dilema: He, as head of the RAF is no longer able to convince the nations leader about the need for certain types/roles of Air power. What will he do in future conflicts? How can he possibly stand up to him again and be expected to be heard?
What would you do? I would resign for a whole host of obvious reasons, but primarily because it is the honourable thing to do for him.
davejb
Your last post brought back some happy memories.
Winco