Labour demand to know each time a Tornado takes off!
 

As part of the agreement to support military action by the RAF in Iraq, Harriet Harman has requested to be informed before aircraft take off on every single mission. To be fair to her party, even her own colleagues have described the demand as "bonkers". Presumably Ms Harman just wants to check over the fuel and weapon loads to make sure the crews haven't made any careless mistakes.

Source for this, err, assertion?

That well known paragon of truth and comedy:-

Ring me every time a Tornado takes off: Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman mocked after making request to David Cameron during emergency shadow cabinet meeting | Daily Mail Online

Ah, OK then. Without foundation.

Hopefully at 0330 every morning....

How about getting a call after they've landed safely?:oh:

Perhaps this is an astute political commentary on our remaining FJ capability?

A conflict or so ago this would be impractical and would deprive said MP of sleep. Now reduced to launching a pair of aircraft (plus tanker) it would be entirely feasible.

A recall of parliament for a deployed flight of 6 aircraft launching as pairs every so often. Sad, really sad.

If she wants to ensure no unnecessary civilian casualties, I can only guess she wants to check the targeting plan or to put details of the missions on Tw!tter. Neither sounds good to me.

The solution to all her concerns and the intel she wants is to put her on the ground there as a forward air controller. :ok:

Labour demand to know each time a Tornado takes off!

So they can let their boss Raz Putin know?

Simple answer is to fly her out to Cyprus and chain her to the perimeter fence on approach :)

While your at it, securing her to the fence, can you take the irritating Wallace and Co with her?

:E

V1

Wait until she starts demanding to know the gender ratio of pilots and whether each a/c captain carried out a cost: benefit analysis before launching each weapon.

Conscript her and her cronies, send them out to AKI as the Ops assitants tea girl/boy, then they would get a better picture.......

With the amount of noise the god damn things make. (Variable noise constant speed). Surely Labour will be able to hear them take off all the way from Westminster.

Perhaps this is an astute commentary on the remaining political capability?

Anyone got her number ? I'll be doing my usual morning constitutional bombing run around 06:30 Local tomorrow ... thought I'd let her know :E

What an a$$ ... Her not me that is :}

You could phone her 1am...we are launching...1.45 it's gone tech.... 2.15 were generating the spare.... 2.45 were due to depart 3am... 3.15 launched and enroute.... 3.45 returning due to weather over target.... 4am feet dry... 4.15 down... A week of that would do :E

The last politico who tried to micro manage a war was LBJ, it didnt go too well by the way.

Good idea Nutty ... Perhaps I should also use appropriate Code Words like "FLOATER" or "SINKER" ... God help her if I declare a "SPLASHBACK" :eek:

Funny enough thats the first thing that crossed my mind. You would have thought they read there mil history.. Hang thats not PC for Labour so there reinventing the wheel.

Target Approval
 

The micro management is far from limited to LBJ. Every night's target in Kosovo (1999) was pre-approved by Blair. Still didn't stop the Russkies getting boots on ground in Nis first.

Why not ring her for approval EVERY time an RAF aircraft is about to take-off. Everything from Tucanos upwards. I'm sure we have some very late night/early morning movements. Give it a week. Simples

Kicking the arse out of it.
 

You did a few posts back. When you think about it, in late 2014 what is actually so bad about the original idea (if its true)? from an Politicians viewpoint?
Technology is there now that men could put a live feed camera from the aircraft, from the weapon even onto a live TV link. Beam it out live on TV, bit like Springwatch or the footy....
Viz - Politicians expect to be kept in absolute constant touch info via their phones and staff gophers - vital to be "in the loop".
This live feed stuff has been going on for ages anyway, some most even of you know this.
Live drone links and the like...


Biggest micro managers of men in war recently must be Thatcher (Belgrano and more..) and Sir Winston Churchill, shurely?


But to add, its more sinister (for the combat aircrews) because its about monitoring. Harriet is simply stepping up the level of monitoring, of audit. The poor people fighting at the air front, now, are under a level of scrutiny unheard of. I think its now upon the military something I've thought for while, since the Sgt RM was sentenced to life imprisonment, that your every move is now monitored and commented and judged upon.
I would be happier if the Sec of State had stood up in the H of C before this started and said "I absolve any aircrew of blame if you misdirect your weaponry onto innocents" or the like.
In this war, if the aircrew hit or kill the innocent bystander, the technology is there and will be used to hang them out to dry.

Did you mean Goofers or a big wet wave?

Regarding Churchill and "long screwdrivers", they thankfully didn't have instant satellite Comms and data links in those days. I'm not sure it would have made poor Dudley Pound's life any less easy, though.

I'm with Herod - a call to the idiot woman every time anything takes off

If she wants to micromanage and approve, any of the 'uman rights' lawyers can drop off the arrest warrant with her name on at the local police station. If you want a say, you carry the can at the end of the day.

I'm sure the strike planners and aircrew can put in the paperwork and details of the mission, just say to her and her ilk, just sign here as the authoriser.

Whatever the suspicions and loyalties of Millibands morons in this "request", it's obvious surely that every time a Tornado departs AKR some SI eyeball, sat enjoying a Brandy sour on a beach in Limassol, will get on his bendy iphone 6 and inform his jihadist pals in Iraq. As previous posters have commented, I'm waiting for Hattie Harperson to demand to know the ratio of female participation in the effort. I hope I live long enough to see people like her and her chums evicted from our lives.

Smudge

Maybe she's just taking an interest because truth be known, she simply finds it all very interesting? Perhaps Hattie is a spotter of quite some magnitude on the QT? Has she asked for Tail codes and airframe registration numbers etc?:8

FB:)

I just get fed up seeing these kind of trivial articles constantly pumped out to remind us of the high priority of social-engineering in HM Forces:

Female Top Gun leads UK's first Iraq combat mission as Britain goes to war for first time in six years | Daily Mail Online

We are constantly reminded that it's no big deal that we have female aircrew...so why is it newsworthy!!!

Pun intended and good luck to all in this nasty conflict...

Hangarshuffle,

Got anything to back that up? I've seen the technology used to disseminate Reaper feeds around the world; those guys are under vastly more scrutiny than GR4 crews are, with their feeds seen by more people, and they've fired a much larger amount of weapons than the GR4 fleet over the last few years.

There are always mistakes in war, and there was one publicised Reaper one. I was involved enough with the GR4 in HERRICK to know about a few mistakes there, and what happened to all the crews involved. No-one was "hung out to dry" based on their feed, and there wasn't any intent that I saw at any level to blame crews for any sort of honest mistake.

Why do you think that will be different in SHADER compared with ELLAMY and HERRICK?

Hey mrs Harriman, tally me tornada
Daylight come and me wanna go home


Etc etc

Time to put a few Tornados on night circuit training in Cyprus. Call her every time wheels leave the ground.

Just task all night flights over Harman Towers... just to let her know we all care.

If there are IS spotters on the beach, why not fly a lot of trips and see if we can't break their economy re mobile calls?

Dysonsphere

In post #21 you refer to military history.
For all any of us know Harman may be very well read in military history, it just might be that she read up on Ho Chi Minh rather than LBJ :)

TrainingRisky,

High cost of social engineering in the RAF?

She got through, you got chopped, get over it!

I do hope you run into her one day and have to explain to her what you meant.

Given the parlous state of the RAF these days I don't suppose the bitch will be greatly disturbed by the dog n bone. Whoops, did I say "dog?" What WAS I thinking of.

Oh 'Poo'ne...

I was rather hoping you had popped your clogs by now...you utter internet hardman cold-war warrior you.

Moving on from my desperate posts of 12 years ago - I have got on with my life rather well. I fail to see what that has to do with the MOD PR machine shoving female aircrew/soldiers/submariners down our throats until we get 'on message'.

More to the point - the female pilots I know wouldn't want their gender to be the focus of media reporting - it's not an issue.