When I talked about the Olympics I meant assets - ships/aircraft etc. a Type 45 in the Thames Estuary, no doubt with Typhoons overhead, with Sentry support, and there has also been talk of HMS
Bulwark (the LPD that has not been mothballed) going to the Weymouth area for the sailing events - with her command facilities, ability to operate various small vessels and carry a couple of hundred Bootnecks, and her large flight deck. No doubt other assets will be committed.
There are other venues in other parts of the UK. Will the security needs of the Olympics be given priority over operational needs - 2012 is looking like a not entirely peaceful year?
On the subject of risk, a number of newspapers are reporting that HMS
Westminster (a T23 frigate) was sent to Libya with only four Seawolf missiles. The
Telegraph report is
here. Note that the MOD does not deny the story.
Is this a taste of things to come? To me it looks like we are making our deployed forces more and more vulnerable, whilst our politicians still like to talk loudly. I see that more sanctions are being put on Iran. On the subject of Iran, everyone seems to think than Iran cannot attack shipping in the Gulf as it would stop their own exports. They miss the point that specific vessels, heading to our from a certain place or flying a certain flag, can be easily targeted. Even mines can be used against specific ships. Small boat operations can be controlled and coordinated by maritime patrol aircraft.
Likewise the anti ship missiles launched from land, various surface vesels, or aircraft.
Dangerous times ahead - which SDSR did not predict. SDSR seems to predict that all future conflict will be a carbon copy of Afghanistan, which is very unlikely. Can our defence policy adapt to a changing world (consider the OODA concept), or are we locked into waiting until the next defence review in 2015, and things like lessons from Libya and the Arab Spring will be ignored?