TC - I read much of what you said with little concern and much agreement.
However, I do not agree with several points/facts.
Firstly, it is not so that most other militaries view SAR as a secondary role. Many see it as a a significant primary role, and indeed many smaller countries have it as one of the few primary roles they operate at all. Indeed it can be argued that the UK over recent decades has been one of the few European nations to eschew military ownership of SAR as a primary or secondary role.
As for your statement that the RN operated SAR a very long time before the RAF reflects a lack of knowledge of the actual UK service history on this. This is so whether you look at purely rotary SAR or go back to early pre WW2 days and review what happened during that War - with of course the rescue means being via launch, pure fixed wing or with flying boats. This of course is not meant to detract from the very fine contribution that the RN has made to SAR over the decades too.
I do support your opinion that the ARCC will close - probably after the MoD finally loses its last SK SAR flight, and it becomes logical to colocate it with some MCA MRCC somewhere. Should we worry about this - well maybe if it loses its expertise on overall rescue coordination and any specific aviation and overland focus it now has
Ho Hum - now thats a bteer thread already with no sign of coffee boilers anywhere!
