Leon's MPA requirements:
1: Protecting the IND.
2: Protecting the new QE and PoW (or other such large vessels)
3: Contributing to the real-time surface/sub-surface picture across a wide area,
emphasise to me the validity of the argument that they should belong to the RN rather than to the RAF.
I'd agree with you if it wasn't an
AIRcraft providing that capability. If it floats it should be RN, if it sits on the ground it should be Army (and yes, I would include the RAF Regt role in that and all lamd based SHORAD) and if it flies it should be RAF. I think for too long we have allowed a blurring around the edges of all 3 Services - it wasn't that long ago (in my current Service career span) that we had a RAF Marine Branch - FFS, why? I know it was a legacy of Air Sea Rescue, but even then that task should have been left to the RN. The rot also set in when the 'FAA of the RAF' went dark blue and Teeny Weeny Airways (AAC) started thinning out as the RAF AOP sqns went to the Army.
Rant over and out...
LJ