Betty - if it gets your blood pressure up, why read it? Just carry on flying your P-8, having BBQs on the beach and dreaming of a UK MMA fleet.
INT ZKJ - how do you know what my security clearance is?
Many people reading this site, and posting on it, have no experience of operating an MPA, I have. They quite often mix up the military and non military roles - not surprising when you consider some countries use the same asset (military) to do both, indeed the UK used to. In response to some of the comments made I have been trying to educate and correct.
Heathrow Harry (HH) was of the opinion we might get an MPA type aircraft for the economic and environmental protection and monitoring of the waters around the UK. First of all this is not a military role and a direct responsibility of the MOD, rather it falls to other agencies in the UK such as Defra, the Coastguard, etc. I also tried to point out that airborne assets still carry out some of these roles in UK water. Civil companies are under contract to provide these services, and these services only. When mahogany bob (mb) said these aircraft couldn't "help the military" I genuinely asked him what he expected them to do. Was he seriously considering that you ask a civil company contracted to look for oil pollution to update a Russian task group off the Moray coast? In effect, he seemed to be saying that civil companies couldn't do the military tasks - which is not surprising.
Indeed mb said "we need MPA even if only to- check illegal fishermen,monitor drug/ arms runners,coordinate rescue operations,conduct maritime anti terrorist ops,prosecute polluters etc etc.". In none of these roles does MOD hold primacy. MOD assets may be used to support other agencies in their task, but the likelihood of the MOD using its budget to buy an aircraft for the sole purpose of supporting other agencies is zero!
So, both HH and mb seem (and I use that word deliberately) to be saying the military might get an MPA (MMA) to do non military tasks - highly unlikely in my opinion. While mb also seems to be saying civil aircraft can't do the military roles - true, but no great help in the argument for a necessity for an MPA.
As an aside, I should also point out that in the UK responsibility for the provision of SAR, as per international treaty, lies with the Department of Transport, not the MOD. The D of T has effectively being using MOD as a "sub contractor" to provide the assets to do the job. So, in terms of a future MPA (MMA), while such an aircraft could easily provide/conduct long range SAR, this is not a primary military task, and therefore unlikely to have much impact in terms of arguing for the acquisition of such an aircraft.
Last edited by Biggus; 24th Jan 2014 at 07:22.