AWACS to monitor Ukraine
 

BBC News - Ukraine crisis: RAF jet to monitor Ukraine border

This will be really interesting :D

Smacks of "We've got to do something", no matter how pointless (or expensive)

Isn't there one mainstream journalist prepared to ask "And what will this achieve, exactly, Minister, at a cost of £25,000 per flying hour?"

F3,


As part of the NAEW&C Force, tasking authority for the E-3D lies with NATO, not the UK - You will probably find that the aircraft has been tasked by them, and seeing as the aircraft is deployed to fly within NATO airspace then it is not really surprizing. (And your estimate of cost is way short of the mark)!

It actually says just that in the article.

Won't the single pilot have his hands full flying the aircraft to do any useful monitoring :E

Bet they tune into Sky News to see what is really happening...............

An interesting point. I suspect that a large element of any costing will be the fixed overheads (eg Base and infrastructure, support chain, Group/Command admin and the like). On that basis, the more you fly the A/C, the cheaper it becomes.

I wonder if anyone's missing the Searchwater capability yet?

Or the more you fly the more fuel, personnel costs and line maintenance that you need to do.

Like everything you can justify A or B depending on what figures you use.........
tried that once saying going to pub saved SWMBO from cooking, meant we would use less energy and was good exercise, got a medal for trying though.

Maintenance can be offset against manufacturers warranty, why do you think the likes of Ryan Air get shot at about the 5 year mark, the cost goes up post warranty. Only the Military who have no commercial interest will continue flying aircraft that even a third world African Airline would have retired long ago.

Fuel costs and personnel also can be offset as the more it flies, the more revenue it produces and hence again the greater the profit, remember it needs to earn XYZ simply to pay for hull insurance and to service the bank loans on it, you need to clear those to make a profit. Also airborne it's not accruing parking fees :)

Fox3

They can train in the local flying area at £25000/hr or they can train nearest to a shooting war and get some real world experience at £25000/hr. P

West Coast - agreed if it's in their regular hours; but it's a waste if it isn't. I got the cost from the USAF - doesn't surprise me that NATO is more!

There was a brilliant BBC cock-up during breakfast news early this morning ... Charlie Stayt announced that Britain was to deploy a "Spy Plane" to monitor the situation in the Ukraine ... and then the BBC put a library picture of the British Army Watchkeeper UAV :ugh:

So wrong on both counts then??

Fox 3 spot on.
 

Got to be seen to be doing something.
I'll tell you what to do, minister, in this situation.
**** all. Keep the UK totally out of it.

Odds on a Sentinel deployment in fairly short order?

Only one more year before SDSR2010 mandated OSD.......

I would have thought that Sentinal was a more appropriate platform, given that the immediate issue in and around the Crimea is the disposition of Russian ground forces. Or is this part of a wider effort to assure the Baltic States that their lack of organic air defence is ok with us and we will monitor any perceived Russian air threat?

"I would have thought that Sentinal was a more appropriate platform, given that the immediate issue in and around the Crimea is the disposition of Russian ground forces. Or is this part of a wider effort to assure the Baltic States that their lack of organic air defence is ok with us and we will monitor any perceived Russian air threat?"


To reiterate... The Sentry is a NATO asset! When NATO says go then the Sentry goes. As the UK Component of the AEW&C Force, the Sentry will no doubt join the E-3As from Geilenkirchen in providing surveillance from NATO airspace as it always has done! This is not the first time that E-3s have deployed to Poland. (And yes, the MOD has to apply to NATO for a Sentry for National tasking - something that has upset many VSOs over the years when they have been told that they cannot have a short notice Sentry for their exercise).

We have a commitment to NATO and we should honor our commitments for God’s sake. This is not even about saber rattling etc., nobody is taking a threatening posture, simply being sensible and keeping a watching eye on developments from a distance. It’s joining our allies in keeping abreast of a situation while at the same time honoring our commitments. Nice to see we keep our word for a change :D. God help us from all you hand wringing naysayers.

Yeah, you don't see many MiG-15s flying these days, do you?