Pongo's Reactionary Protectionism....
For those of you who have seem the front page of the Sunday Times today, I'm sure you've had enough time to mull this over.
For those who haven't, the general gist is this. Our Ground Pounding bretherin are in the process of sending at least one squadron of Challenger 2 MBTs out into theatre...... No bead-window time, it's in the public domain where I got it from.
Now, for some years now, I was labouring under the apprehension that MBTs were not the correct system for the Theatre for some several reasons including but not exclusively:
1: Not cool for hearts and minds...
2: Some what lacking in mobility given the conditions/terrain etc
3: See points 1 and 2 ref all of the T52/55/72s littering the landscape, somewhat burnt out.....
So. This (mis)apprehension came from the meeeja, and some pongo mates who were in the process of bigging up the latest WartMasBullVikingIK to be purchased under UOR.
To quote "Only the Challenger can give them the combination of protection and firepower that they need."
Two questions need answering here.
Firstly, if the above quote is true, why the fook has the MBT not been a fixture with TFH for a good while now?
Secondly, and pertaining to this forum, is this not a blatant case of Army Reationary Protectionism? Given that "40% of the Army's Challenger 2 tanks are due to be axed" it does seem to be a rather timely deployment. Which makes somewhat of a mockery of their banter about "The War" and that most pongos that one speaks to don't think that the UK requires Fixed Wing Air Defence because it doesn't contribute to "The War."
I'd love to have been able to put this more elequently, so I hope some of my more erodite collegues can continue.
Discuss