What does one say? The thread is littered with strong opinions about the validity/cost of the “kill”. In honest terms, let’s not forget that the soul purpose of military aviation is to enable the success of our ground forces, if the drone in question was a threat to said ground forces - bravo!

Hmm, that quote deserves several threads all of its own, and I’m not sure military aviation has a soul, I remember several QWIs who certainly didn’t!

Only for those with a juvenile sense of humour……

BZ to all involved.

Fed up of the "why waste all that money on destroying a toy drone" messages all across facebook so thought I'd pop on here for some sense.

Sadly seems there are muppets on here too. Surprised no one suggested flying alongside and tipping the wing like the Spitfires did to Doodlebugs.

To put it into perspective, i reckon the cost was around 2 minutes worth of the UK annual defence budget. Excellent value if it saved one injury on the ground, let alone someones life out there. If you think otherwise then you need to give your head a wobble.

As I say well done to all involved. You did your job, and you did it well.

SATCO's, if you have the patience to trawl through the puerile drivel on this thread, you will see that the 'wing-tipping' comment was made in post #33.....

Cheers BEagle, I see it now. The post didn't register and reading it now I take it as sarcasm rather than a suggestion.

All of the multitude of equally or better qualified pilots on the thread have the God-given right to give an opinion on any story, mil aviation or not. They are, by dint of superiority, exempt the 'opinions and a-holes' advice which only binds lesser mortals.:E

CG

Thank you for this DB. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was ever going to understand the real issue.

It’s coming, with lasers, but about 10 years down line for a FJ system.

https://www.aero-mag.com/usaf-laser-weapons-04082021

And, possibly, countermeasures….

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...-of-nellis-afb

If it can shoot down a flying coffee table then I'm well impressed and no error

If people would only google Iranian Drones before commenting they would see that some of their drones are sizeable, probably the same length as a Spitfire, and very capable of wreaking death and destruction.
If you think the reports are talking about a drone you can buy at your local model shop then you need to update your knowledge.

I wonder if anyone in MoD regrets shutting down our research and development about 15 or so years ago. Or even knows of it. Some of it recommenced recently, but the original scientists were gone, some now employed by near neighbours applying the science in other fields. Not unlike laser wire strike avoidance kit from mid-80s. Same superb people, but others countries benefit.

My post #33 about wing tipping was making the point that the RAF doesn't have low end capabilities - only high end so that's what you have to use. Any other discussion is just idiotic.

and thinking about it wing tipping in a (modern) Typhoon would probably cost more in investigation/paperwork/repairs to the aircraft than to the cost of a missile

I believe you might want to re-read that and edit it.

Apologies for earlier error - doing too many things at once! I think you will find RAF pilots shot down Argentinian aircraft in the Falklands War - they were flying the SHAR as the RN had insufficient pilots to crew them. Interesting story here about one of them, Flt Lt David Morgan, who joined the Navy but left to join the RAF so he could fly fast jets. Eventually, after being on the RAF Harrier GR3, he was sent to the RN to fly the SHAR. He ended up shooting down 2 jets and a helicopter, plus destroying one helicopter on the ground. Here is a good Wikipedia article on the subject - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_...l_Navy_officer

Hope that wiki piece is accurate…:oh:

Ha ha..... :E

If you are on here - you are my personal hero and one of the reasons I joined the RAF in 1983. Our country owes you much. What you and your colleagues did was incredibly impressive and will likely never be repeated. I joined as a Nav and 8 years later found myself hurtling down a runway in the back of a Tornado GR1, heading off to Iraq from Saudi Arabia and mulling over the oddities of life that got me there! The amazing efforts of Harrier/Sea Harrier pilots a few years earlier was a great inspiration. They had none of the equipment we had and operated off a tiny ship in the middle of a very inhospitable South Atlantic. Now that is quality!

Coming back to wing tipping, didn't Mogs take out an Argi helicopter in the Falklands without firing a shot. Perhaps he has a view on such tactics with drones and I am most certainly not being facetious!

TBH I am a bit far from the front line now (Gott sei dank!) and not sure how practical it would be to get a visual on a small target early enough to set up a high-speed, v close pass. There might also be the possibility of exposing a very valuable asset to grunt fire, which is never good! Any upset might only be transitory depending on the sophistication of the device, unlike a helicopter!

I would have thought that the Israeli computer-controlled small arms system might have merit.

Mog

The sort of thinking that prolonged the Battle of the Atlantic by 2 years. Good to see it's still around

Rather expensive way of dealing with a rather cheap problem. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a standard way of dealing with low tech threats - we need to think about how we do GBAD properly or we’ll be bled to death when our opponents realise they don’t have to engage us face to face to erode our capabilities.

CWIS and a decent radar as well had in Basra would be my starter for 10 for point defence which is what the C-UAS threat relates to. And a re-writing of doctrine: enemy use of UAS mean we no longer have air superiority let alone supremacy. Favourable Air Situation is now as good as it gets.

It's expensive to use the missile, but the consequences of NOT using the missile could be far more expensive in terms of lives or material lost on the ground. Hopefully APKWS will make this problem cheaper to solve.

For the bigger Class UAS maybe, but ask the Saudis how it’s going burning Patriot and AMRAAM against the UAS threat. Even they are wincing at the cost and they are on the receiving end most days.

But the point stands we haven’t got a credible GBAD capability right the way up from tactical to strategic levels of warfare. And you can’t put all your eggs into one basket and hope there’s going to be a Typhoon in the right place at the right time on the off chance. Plus as soon as the threat morphs into missiles rather than slow moving UAS then it’s game over for deployed and home base forces.

And a quick look at the enemy ORBAT - both state and militia - says we’ve already passed that point.

I think that many of you miss the real point!

What a fantastic capability the ASRAAM has to take out such a target. This makes the seeker head and avionics an absolute world beater.

We should be really proud in the UK that we managed to develop such a great missile that still has not reached its full potential or capability. Yes the seeker come from the USA but its the way that the information is processed that is unique!

Could the answer be Sky Sabre, just coming into service with the British army. Claims to be able to take out items size of tennis ball traveling at supersonic speed! Would have thought Saudi's might like SS as well!

No cheaper than an ASRAAM seeing that it is basically an ASRAAM with an active radar seeker head.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f5c2470c70.jpg
Wish people would stop droning on about old Typhoons.Merry Xmas to all those on Shader, some of them I served with many moons ago. Some good bods out there.

That's a Tempest V ;)

​​​​​​So it is. Must admit my aircraft recognition is awful compared to my younger days. Got to the Air Britain final as well at the ATC corps final at Hendon in 1983. As irreverent to the meaning of the rest of the post wishing the best to all that are on Shader formed and non formed deployments. Nice models mind.

So true!
Just cannot understand why the RAF tech leadership failed to recognize the massive advantage provided by the Mustang style behind the cockpit radiator.
.

Not invented by the RAE!!!

"F. W. Meredith was a British engineer working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), Farnborough. Reflecting on the principles of liquid cooling, he realized that what was conventionally regarded as waste heat, to be transferred to the atmosphere by a coolant in a radiator, need not be lost." :)

Somebody claiming precedence for his uncle who worked with Meredith - with a patent on the theme. Sorry for the thread divergence….

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/thread...3/post-1427658

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/thread...3/post-1428101

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/thread...3/post-1428938

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publ...R=472555A&KC=A

What about the Nimrod on 27/5/82 ?

Do tell.....???

First Nimrod MR2 AIM-9G Sidewinder firing trial took place on that day at Aberporth. My source doesn't say if the missile hit anything (Flare pack or the Jindy towing it).

We’re talking real ops not trials… there’s been plenty of ASRAAMs, Skyflash, ‘winders etc punted off down a range over the years.

I concur totally, however it wasn't me that first mentioned the aircraft type or the date.

At least now you can stamp the missile with 'Combat proven'!!