Last of the few
Only eight aircraft to defend British skies?
A purist libertarian would argue that the only two requirements of government are the upholding of the law and the defence of it’s people, well recent events have shown that this government is capable of neither.
There have been too many reported incidents of the police taking the law into their own hands and assaulting members of the public, or just plain shooting them dead, and now we learn that should Putin decide to have a war over European energy supplies (as a pretext) then there are only eight RAF Tornados left to defend the realm.
The 43 and 111 squadrons, which were due to stand down in late 2010, could be merged or axed from September although the Ministry of Defence says it has not worked out the full details.
The move will reportedly cut the number of fighter jets on standby to protect Britain from 25 to 12. However, it is said that at all times, four of these will be undergoing maintenance, leaving only eight on standby at any one time.
Labour makes you feel warm and cosy doesn’t it.
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
Why on earth would Putin decide to start a war with Britain over energy supplies, Curly?
And if he did what would it matter if we had eight planes or eighty?
Come on, this is the kind of paranoia you expect from The Daily Mail. Are you saying you’d prefer us to blow billions of pounds on fighter jets in the middle of a financial crisis?
Latvia’s air defences are provided by a couple of Belgian jets based in Lithuania. They have far more historical reasons to fear a Russian invasion yet no-one here seems to worry.
Michael
April 23, 2009 at 9:03 am
Good point, Michael and that’s apart from both countries having Nuclear capability and the US would surely get involved also, it’s not worth the risk. It seems some people think that every country which isn’t striclty Western are some kind of mad tyrants.
Jo
April 23, 2009 at 9:45 am
Until the Typhoons are completely on line and fully equipped we are in a poor position to help our Nato allies in any other operation either current or what may occur in the near future.
Yes it may be outlandish to suggest that Putin may want to declare war, but I was searching for a way to make the point that our armed forces are poorly funded, under equipped,and if peace was a premium right now we would struggle to help ourselves.
curly
April 23, 2009 at 11:44 am
The hints coming from the Tories suggest that they are going to slash spending at the Ministry of War if they win the next election. That must cause consternation among right wing Conservatives.
Bryan
April 23, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Correct
curly
April 23, 2009 at 1:06 pm