Blacksheep hit the nail on the head. Quote:
"Speaking as a citizen, the first (and some say the only) duty of a government is defence of the state against external aggression. What I see in the present and proposed arrangements is the capability for participating in foreign intervention coalitions. I don't see in the present arrangements much (or even any) sign of defence against outside aggression. We're an island nation: where is the control of our airspace? or our coastal waters? or our sea lanes - the veins that carry our lifeblood as one old, bold Prime Minister once called them."
What defences does the UK have today? During the Cold War our Armed Forces were totally (& correctly) geared to defence of our island. We had F4's on QRA in the UK & at RAF Wildenrath in Germany. We had Harriers at RAF Gutersloh, Jaguars at RAF Bruggen, several hundred Main Battle Tanks at various German locations, Rapier at all RAFG airfields for local airfield defence, 2 squadrons of Bloodhound SAM's with a range of 85 miles to 60,000ft in the UK & at Wildenrath, Bruggen & Laarbruch, 48 Tornados at Laarbruch with H-Bombs & a REAL Navy with Aircraft Carriers/ Harriers. We also had a Nimrod force armed with (admittedly US provided/maintained weapons) nuclear depth charges & the "Stealthy " 51 Sqn at RAF Wyton. (And probably a lot more that I have forgotten!)
Today we have an OFFENSIVE Royal Air Force with its expensive but poorly supported maintenance (by civilian contractors - what a disaster), a miniscule OFFENSIVE submarine fleet (armed & supported by the USA) & virtually no heavy armour within the army.
Our skies are policed by "Fighter Controllers" watching outdated & obsolete radar pictures whereas the USAF has "Over the Horizon" radar due to their pumping billions into the latest technology. There should no longer be a need for an idiot on the ground in an underground bunker getting a radar display, to tell an attack pilot "Turn Port 3 degrees - target 40 miles"! Nowadays this can be satellite fed direct to the weapon platform.
The MOD is living in the dark ages, run by Dinosaur Senior Officers, whose only desire is to see out their days in MOD Main Building drawing their Central London allowances & having free accomodation by Admiralty Arch.
Without significant investment in a new long range SAM system, proper upgrading of the Typhoon weapon systems, Refitting the 2 Aircraft Carriers & bring the Harriers out of mothballs & having a complete re-think of the role of the Army there is absolutely no hope for any form of defence of the UK.
But hey ho - It doesn't really matter. With no immigration controls & over 3 million "dubious characters" allowed into the UK - many who would strangely blow themselves (&, hopefully, you) up, we have lost our security.
Go Think. (The ravings of a man who realised 20 years ago that he wouldn't trust a single MP - unless that MP had put his life on the line in the Armed Forces. I've yet to meet one....)