Tourist!
It would appear that Tourist knows as much about ISTAR/ASTOR as he does about AD (see F3 thread)!
Tourist, make the effort old boy to google or look on the MoD Website and gain information before making ill-informed comments about subject matter that is clearly out-of-your depth!
MarkRAFIAM - do you have 'a bit of an axe to grind' regarding Raytheon/ASTOR, do tell!
BlackadderIA - good to see someone making a balanced and informed comment and posing an interesting question for our lords and masters!!
My 'tuppence worth' - just think of the benefits of this type of system for anti-piracy ops, survey ops in and around Japan (civil support), support to New Zealand after their earthquake - not quite an 'old cold-war' relic!!
'Let the sparring commence'!