Yes it looked a little pointless. Did the French or Belgians do similar from their side of the channel? I bet not.
Who thought up this stunt and why?>that would be a good question to the SoS for Defence. I can half understand the warship....not the aircraft as such.
Purely for show and for the camera. It only encourages the Daily Mail, whose blurb was frankly embarrassing.
But with only 16 years since 9/11, perhaps RAF should be routinely armed for an immediate response, and shown to the public to be thus even in these ****ty photos - as someone once said, our aircraft generally perform better with bullets than without. Live threat could appear at any time in these crazy days. Recent use of suicide trucks in Europe proves the capability to improvise ad hoc.
Are they up to it? We have a very limited number of combat aircraft- they may as well fly armed - and be seen as such*.
Incidentally the RAF have nothing to attack a warship with. Stand to be corrected but the Sea Eagle has long gone up the Suwannee.
If God forbid action was required by anybody our side would it be bombs> Brimstone? dedicated anti ship missile? Komorant?
* and I make these comments because the public are probably ill informed, or if more knowledgeable then they are ill at ease with the UK mil. The performance of the military in recent times raises many questions about ability and more.