This BBC News story caught my eye:
Libya: Tory MP David Davis urges UK defence rethink
He added: "I think we should act, the trouble is we really don't have the hardware to do the job."
He told the BBC many Conservatives were concerned about defence cuts announced last October - which included decommissioning the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the UK's fleet of Harrier jets and it was "time to go back and look at it again".
"If we had Ark Royal, if we had the Harriers, we could almost certainly have prevented any flight by Gaddafi's people over the rebels... and where he's got his air defences. We could have done that, probably straight away."
"There's a terrible deja vu about this. The same thing happened with John Nott's defence review in the 80s, when Galtieri invaded the Falklands we had already sold one of our aircraft carriers to the Australians. "
Ignoring the hyperbole, he DOES have a point. Speak softly and carry a big stick, not shout loudly and throw away your stick.
Would the Harrier GR9 have been able to contribute to these operations without a radar? The comments of Magic Mushroom that I quoted some pages back suggest a possible role augmenting other aircraft, with Sea King ASaCS or AWACS support. Also they could hit ground (or maritime - allegedly rocket launchers are being mounted on oil tankers and used by Gaddafi's forces for bombarding rebel positions) targets and do reece. The CVS would also play a role in the interdiction operations that would be concurrent.
Lots of rumours flying around at the moment....
News just in - the
UN Security Council has authorised the use of force. Of course, Tripoli isn't too happy:
The Libyan military has warned that any foreign operations against Libya will expose all maritime and air navigation in the Mediterranean Sea to danger, state TV reports.
"All civilian and military activities will be the target of a Libyan counter-attack. The Mediterranean Sea will be in serious danger not only in the short term but also in the long term," a screen caption said.
We do live in interesting times. What a pity David Davis was not picked as Tory leader instead of Tony Blair Mk2...