On 4 Feb 2003 at 22:03, Richard Baker wrote: > > The Tornados are airforce. > > Yes, I said so. > > > They're optimised for missile warfare. > > Well, no. The original Tornado was optimised for interdiction behind > Red Army lines in Central Europe. When Britain badly needed a new > fighter to replace the Lightnings and Phantoms, it was decided to > adapt the Tornado as a second-rate modern fighter until a proper > replacement could be developed. The Tornado Air Defence Variant (now > the Tornado F.3) was thus born. Essentially its role wasn't the > establishment of air superiority, but intercepting Soviet bombers over > the North Sea.
As it was described to me, the way its avionics have been changed and such recently has been geared towards changing it into a platform for air-launched missiles. The cost has allowed us to purchase quite a few as well - I remember reading recently about the cost of the F-22 is such that even the Americans are balking at buying high numbers. > > The Marines have HMS Ocean, which can carry a substantual landing > > force... > > Yes, but HMS Ocean is new, having been commissioned in 1998. She only > completed trials in 1999. They also, of course, have quite a few > conventional amphibious assault ships, which were originally intended, > if I recall correctly, for landings in Norway to stop the Red Army > from capturing key strategic airfields there. There are also two newer > ones, which are for force projection across larger distances. Yup. We DO have substantial amphibious assualt capacity, at least. > [developing and deploying new capabilities] > > > Maybe not as long as you think. > > Long enough. For example, the Eurofighter Typhoon was conceived in the > 1980s as a new air superiority fighter for Europe and won't be > deployed to squadrons for a few years yet. (As mentioned above, the > Tornado ADV was a temporary measure to provide some kind of fighter > capability.) We're getting the Eurofighter, but also the JSF. The JSF VTOL will be able to fly off our current carriers, and that should boost our power project capacities. > Major warship programmes take around a decade to go from > requirements to actual vessels. The new British airlift capability has Yeah - the new carriers WILL take a long time but as you say most major warships do. > I think it'll take until at least 2010 for the British armed forces to > be fully reconfigured for post-Cold War duties. The other European > militaries are presumably similarly optimised for their Cold War > duties, and as UK defence spending is generally higher than elsewhere > in the EU it'll probably take longer to retask them. Well.. I think we're making a better path of it than most of the other European countries... Andy Dawn Falcon _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
