16 Regt RA - Rapier > SkySabre
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Imagine deploying it onto a beach in, say, FI. Suspect it would be a nightmare.
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You can tell it was built for the army, they have had to stencil left rear and right rear on the stabilisers lol. I wonder if a tracked variant is in the offing.
Helping the REME fitters out when it's cold, wet, dark, they've been on exercise for weeks eating rations with minimal sleep to satisfy the drivers hours scheme...it's the little things that can save time and effort if they have a HF moment and put them on the wrong way.
Below the Glidepath - not correcting
How effective was Rapier ? I only recall the initial disastrous performance in the Falklands.
Harrier can land in a field, but routinely used runways; Hercules and A400 have often landed on beaches, but there is a penalty to pay if you do it all the time (as I am sure the engineers on here will confirm).
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Not exactly air portable, it looks like they tried to cram it all on the back of three trucks but it wouldn’t fit so they had to add a trailer to squeeze it on. I wonder how l9ng it takes to set it all up.
It's not a 1:1 for Rapier. It's a different setup with vastly different capabilities.
It's like comparing a pistol with a LMG
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Whether it is or it isn't, in a single area of ops like the FI it makes sense to operate from well-found/hard surfaces during routine ops.
Harrier can land in a field, but routinely used runways; Hercules and A400 have often landed on beaches, but there is a penalty to pay if you do it all the time (as I am sure the engineers on here will confirm).
Harrier can land in a field, but routinely used runways; Hercules and A400 have often landed on beaches, but there is a penalty to pay if you do it all the time (as I am sure the engineers on here will confirm).
Last edited by rjtjrt; 30th Jan 2022 at 01:50.
TBF most commentators now recognise that no-one had tested Rapier under the conditions that applied - a rushed embarkation, cross decking , a long sea journey and then deployed on a unprepared hill top in the middle of nowhere and having to work in combat conditions in a a few hours. The fact it eventually worked at all was quite good.
Several other systems didn't work as everyone hoped - but that's what happens when you face the realities of combat rather than tests, exercises and simulations
Several other systems didn't work as everyone hoped - but that's what happens when you face the realities of combat rather than tests, exercises and simulations