Originally Posted by Ken Scott
Major General Julian Thompson would have more credibility if he got his facts straight - tanker's are in Sicily which is a tad close than Cyprus (but sounds less wasteful), and as for hotac costing money I guess that Carriers are free, cost nothing to buy or run & don't need any re-supply.
Yes, the RAF is flying Sentinels, not tankers, from Cyprus. Apart from that, his statements seem to be correct.
We finished paying for CVS and Harriers long ago and, according to
Hansard,
Ark Royal would have cost £10m to run on through 2011/12. This is a fraction of the
cost to date in Italian-based RAF infrastructure, extra aviation fuel, tanker hours, flying hours wasted in 1,200 mile transits to the Libyan coast and back (£70k per hour for Typhoons so at least £140k per sortie), hotel accommodation, restaurant meals, local and international transport for pax,
ad hoc overland/air logistics train instead of door to door RFA which we already possess, etc.
Normally, I view carrier aviation as complementary to land-based air but this kind of nonsense from a poster who's out of touch makes me so cross!
