Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Blue Maverick]

It's ironic that the government is arsed about it being shot at when you have to ask why Russian aircraft were able to get close to it without any air support. Typhoons are now having to escort aircraft in the area but on another day we could have lost 1 and well it's a bit too late then.

It's only proving that an AWACS aircraft is critical. It could pick up these enemy Russian aircraft far in advance to scramble the Typhoons or whatever the closest NATO air defence is. It could even pickup ships and alsorts in the area which would be pretty useful I'm sure to the Ukrainians.

However, because we sold off Sentry earlier this year we now haven't got any AWACS capability until next year when Wedgetail is put into service.

It’s in international air space, it shouldn’t need an escort, you can’t have fighter escort for everything, I would presume that the government would think that even Russians wouldn’t be that stupid. They know about the flight as a flight plan is filed, just like many others that fly near our airspace from Russia, it’s not illegal.

 

[Metal Biker]

Iranian troops on the ground in Ukraine! The report says that they are there to support drone operations which basically means that they are enemy combatants. What exactly are Iran hoping to gain by this?

I hope they all receive a warm Ukrainian welcome!

 

[west didsblue]

It's ironic that the government is arsed about it being shot at when you have to ask why Russian aircraft were able to get close to it without any air support. Typhoons are now having to escort aircraft in the area but on another day we could have lost 1 and well it's a bit too late then.

It's only proving that an AWACS aircraft is critical. It could pick up these enemy Russian aircraft far in advance to scramble the Typhoons or whatever the closest NATO air defence is. It could even pickup ships and alsorts in the area which would be pretty useful I'm sure to the Ukrainians.

However, because we sold off Sentry earlier this year we now haven't got any AWACS capability until next year when Wedgetail is put into service.

It's no surprise that our shambolic government would allow a two year capability gap for our AEW capability after a six year gap in our electronic surveillance capability after Nimrod R and a ten year gap in our ASW capability after Nimrod MR2. In all cases it couldn't have come at a worse time when you look at Russia's actions in the meantime. It made us look weak and severely degraded our ability to monitor the threats from Russia. That is the last thing we needed to portray to a belligerent Russia who were planning to invade other countries. Thankfully Rivet Joint and Poseidon are now in service and we'll presumably have to rely on our allies for AEW.

 

[Eds]

Iranian troops on the ground in Ukraine! The report says that they are there to support drone operations which basically means that they are enemy combatants. What exactly are Iran hoping to gain by this?

Trying to drag Israel into supplying weapons to Ukraine which will piss off the Russians big time who will then in return lend support to Iran's proxy war in Israel

Israel’s balancing act over Ukraine grows trickier after drone strikes

Israel has refrained from providing Ukraine with weapons in a bid to maintain relations with Russia.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[grunge]

Trying to drag Israel into supplying weapons to Ukraine which will piss off the Russians big time who will then in return lend support to Iran's proxy war in Israel

Israel already said they were going to supply stuff, earlier this week or late last week, cant recall exactly when.

And seeing as Russia are relying on Iran at this point im not sure what they could add at this point in time.

 

[CTID1977]

 

[metalblue]

It's no surprise that our shambolic government would allow a two year capability gap for our AEW capability after a six year gap in our electronic surveillance capability after Nimrod R and a ten year gap in our ASW capability after Nimrod MR2. In all cases it couldn't have come at a worse time when you look at Russia's actions in the meantime. It made us look weak and severely degraded our ability to monitor the threats from Russia. That is the last thing we needed to portray to a belligerent Russia who were planning to invade other countries. Thankfully Rivet Joint and Poseidon are now in service and we'll presumably have to rely on our allies for AEW.

The peace dividend that is called - all governments try to benefit from it.

 

[west didsblue]

The peace dividend that is called - all governments try to benefit from it.

Losing critical capability for years on end isn't the peace dividend, it's dereliction of the duty to defend the country.
In the case of Poseidon, one of Cameron's first decisions in 2010 was to save £200m by not putting Nimrod MRA4 into service and have since spent £1.8bn in its replacement. Some dividend!

 

[JASR]

Losing critical capability for years on end isn't the peace dividend, it's dereliction of the duty to defend the country.
In the case of Poseidon, one of Cameron's first decisions in 2010 was to save £200m by not putting Nimrod MRA4 into service and have since spent £1.8bn in its replacement. Some dividend!

Nimrod MRA4 was a really bad idea from the start. Iirc it was only given the go ahead because it kept alive the uk aircraft defence industry.
From a technical point of view, spending money on a late 40’s design airframe, in the 21st century was bad.
There was also less than zero chance of any export sales.

The alternatives at that time werent much better though, the turboprop P3 based on a late 50’s airframe…
Could have been different if the UK had decided that it might be an idea to join the Boeing P8 at the sayart

 

[metalblue]

Losing critical capability for years on end isn't the peace dividend, it's dereliction of the duty to defend the country.
In the case of Poseidon, one of Cameron's first decisions in 2010 was to save £200m by not putting Nimrod MRA4 into service and have since spent £1.8bn in its replacement. Some dividend!

Nimrod was way over budget, late and beset with hundreds of design problems. I don’t disagree it was a questionable decision to scrap it but with my 2010 glasses on no one was expecting anything other than the usual cat and mouse stuff with Russia who by then were by and large fairly benign. No one was really paying much attention to China. All focus was on terrorism risks back then and ensuring energy supplies (ironic eh?) through close cooperation. We grew complacent.