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