Originally Posted by Just this once
You seem to be quite bitter about the RAF glojo.
Anyway, the MoD is in the driving seat with the Treasury holding the fuel card and the map. The RAF do not have the ability to make the decisions you imply and attribute to the air marshal.
The system is open to criticism but you have to know roughly what the system is before you go on a tirade.
Others will pick apart your observations but I would start with the thought of the E2D; I ask when did it ever feature on our plans and just how would we pay for it?
Actually I am frustrated at how the Royal Navy let this develop, I do NOT blame the RAF one jot. I would have loved for at least one First Sea Lord to have stood up and be counted regarding how the Fleet Air Arm has been treated and NO... I do not blame the RAF, I am not bitter to-wards our extremely brave and highly trained aircrews of the junior service
My post may well come across as a rant but it was what was asked by a Select Committee Meeting. I understand why this Air Marshal was giving evidence but answers were required about Royal Navy ships, and their deployment. The Committee were not convinced their questions were being answered and was not having a senior Royal Navy officer present along with the Air Marshal a deliberate, well thought out omission by the Ministry of Defence?.
With a conventional carrier the E2D would be part and parcel of the whole package and why not? Would we expect the RAF to operate without this type of asset? Folks here are of the opinion that a carrier is merely an expensive mobile airfield and nothing anyone will say will alter these opinions, but if our country wants to be a player on the big stage then is a strike carrier battle group the way to project this power?
Is anyone here going to deny that the F-35's will be owned by the RAF or these squadrons will have pilots in them from both services? I note how well this worked during the Falklands campaign and I am NOT suggesting this idea will not work but is the F-35B the ideal aircraft for the RAF?
I am NOT having a dig at your service and I feel you deserve the best aircraft we can afford and if it is the 'B' then so be it but is it the best and is the A variant a cheaper and better aircraft?
Originally Posted by Peter We
Thats no longer true, its been accelerated to be available years sooner.
This extract is in regards to Crowsnest and if what you claim is true then that is reassuring but why would the Select Committee be told 2022 at the very earliest?
None of the dates regarding this asset are my rantings, they are all taken from the evidence given at that meeting. I am not pulling dates out of a hat and hopefully no one has given incorrect evidence to those MP's as they do not have a sense of humour.
Folks here simply look on these ships as being mobile airfields that are only used to launch and recover aircraft, I would suggest however that this type of ship is also a significant deterrent asset.