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RAF AT to the Philippines?

A very small snippet on BBC this morning says that Dave C is dispatching RAF AT to the region. Sky News says a C17 is earmarked.

Well it won't be a C130K.

I read the title as RAFAT and couldn't for the life of me see what use The Red Arrows would be....

Time for glasses methinks.

From the BBC website

Quote:

The UK will send a Royal Navy warship to help deal with the storm disaster in the Philippines, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced. He said HMS Daring would travel "at full speed" from Singapore and an RAF C-17 transporter plane will be sent. Mr Cameron, addressing business leaders in the City of London, added that UK aid following Typhoon Haiyan would be increased from £6m to £10m. Up to 10,000 people are feared to have been killed.

Meanwhile, millions of survivors of the typhoon, which struck the Philippines on Friday, are waiting for aid with food shortages increasing.
A huge international relief effort is under way but rescue workers have struggled to reach areas cut off since the storm. 'Powerful help'
During his speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, in which he outlined the coalition's foreign policy commitments, Mr Cameron said: "We continue to help around the world - as we are today in the Philippines, where Typhoon Haiyan has wrought such appalling devastation.

"Britain is contributing £10m and HMS Daring, currently deployed near Singapore, will shortly be heading at full speed towards the disaster zone with further support from an RAF C-17 which will be a powerful help to the relief operation."

Just what help will an air defence destroyer be able to give ?

HMS Daring and her crew will provide humanitarian assistance, helicopter lift from one on-board Lynx and engineering and first-aid expertise. The Type 45 destroyer also carries equipment to make drinking water from seawater.

Aah -not the Reds then!

What they've always done: provide trained and well drilled bodies to make, move and mend stuff and help with food and fresh water supplies.

That's the problem with sending a Rolls Royce and not a Ford Escort; nobody believes that it can contribute anything.

Without wanting to sound negative, what does it cost to send a warship? Serious question and not to denigrate the training and flexibility of the good people on board but surely that's an expensive way of deploying a single helicopter. How many Antonovs could we charter for the same money?

The people of the Philippines need all the help they can get - only someone who has experienced a typhoon can visualise the death and destruction that has been caused. It is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest and hard working people you could wish to meet.Although I am Scottish I have long connections with the Philippines and have a house there which fortunately was outside the typhoon area. Can I urge those of us more fortunate to be generous when requests for financial help are made.

Shotone - the question is what is the marginal cost. Some fuel, basically. Almost everything else is a fixed cost.

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A point frequently missed in situations such as this is things are frequently viewed on a total cost basis whereas the majority of cost is front money for an already budgeted cost center; i.e. the actual cost of a humanitarian operation may be a little more (depending on what was originally scheduled for an asset) but far from the total cost. Most of the cost is effectively dead money anyhow, irrespective of whether the asset does something really useful or simply goes out on exercise. Good collateral is the first class hands on training, experience and of course goodwill (to name but a few). It is unlikely, in the big scheme of things, to cost a great deal. Quite a good payback is a possibility.

PS I live in the Philippines and am fortunate not to have been in the path of that havoc. A warship may have more uses, over and above those already mentioned, than first meets the eye proving a self-contained sophisticated command and coordination infrastructure where all land based facilities have been simply wiped out; obliterated. While by background and inclination I’m Air Force through and through, I believe Jack Tar has much to bring to the table on this one.

I am surprised they are not sending Illustrious, which has only just left Karachi

Illustrious is committed to Cougar 13 | Royal Navy, and taking her out would leave a huge hole in the plan.

Hmm, sounds like the perfect group of ships and units to send to help with a humanitarian disaster?

Quote:

How many Antonovs could we charter for the same money?

How many runways in/near the disaster area are both capable of handling an Antonov and currently serviceable?

Send troops by air and you also have to send accommodation, food, bedding, water, medical support, communications, C&C, etc, etc, etc.

Send a boat and you provide all the support services needed in a complete package, as well as modern facilities for the injured - should they be needed.

Makes total sense to me TBH

Quote:

How many runways in/near the disaster area are both capable of handling an Antonov and currently serviceable?

And it's no good flying in hundreds of tons of food and kit if you then can't distribute it from the airhead. They need medium/large SH just as much as heavy lift AT.