President Obama made it clear that the UK and France and others will be in the van on this one. How long might we have to provide a NFZ if the Colonel does as he is told? What impact could this have on the RAF?
With Libya land basing is feasible but as of now, we do not know where Tornado and Typhoon will be based with certainty? Could be right to assume Crete and Italy but we do not know for sure. Easy Streets flight times reflect the best case scenario.
There is no carrier argument. We are building two! The issue was would Ark Royal have been useful and in view of events can we still do without any Strike Carrier capability for a period of 10 years. In my view when deleting Ark Royal we took a risk and will get away with it this time. However looking ahead, Illustrious could offer more than just a platform for helos if at least some GR9's are reactivated for use in the intervening period with QE becoming available circa 2015 and POW with "cats and traps" later.
And please no more about how we are broke and Defence needs to share the pain. If HMG wants to play at the top table it now needs to find the cash! If it continues as if nothing has happened since October last we are simply asking for trouble.