Yup, agreed, it was a cloud cuckoo land idea dreamt up by the company and those that grew up in the V force era. I'm sure the fighter jocks from our adversaries would have been rubbing their hands with glee at such an easy target.
By the way Stormshadow was developed to take down the hardened facilities that make up IADS. This is
exactly what it was used for in GW2 on its first operational jaunt - I remember being with the mission planners down the hole at PJHQ.
As others have sensibly said on other threads recently on MPAs (and aren't there so many of them on Prune these days!), we must try not to dilute the argument for a MPA. They are
not the panacea some would have us believe for LRSAR and also strategic strike in a contested air environment - but they are very good at patrolling large expanses of water and helping keep our V-boats safe. If only we hadn't wasted £3.8Bn on a sow's ear, we might have some MPAs in service and a few more FJ sqns out of the change.
LJ
PS. This made me laugh out loud...
What we lost was 2 sqns of MMA. The decision over FJ numbers was between GR7/9 and GR4. The money on MRA4 was already spent; support costs for your FJ fleet was down to support costs for your FJ Fleet. But never let the truth get in the way of a good rumour.
...this exactly why we have had to scrap Harrier and some Tornados early - we squandered the cash years before on the sow's ear's development. The defence budget isn't a bottomless pot you know, and the budget normally has a 10 year plan - so if you spend it on one project you won't be able to spend it on something else.
