Eurofighter Typhoon (RAF)

[ArmChairCivvy]

Yes we sort of do this now but this would formalise it.

- yes, when did a full squadron (12) last deploy?

I have no doubt some will have noticed that by doing the maths I believe we only need around 50 F-35s until almost 2030 which isn't a bad thing

- the Red Flag numbers on constant availability would support this view (bearing in mind, though, that B is more complex than A):
" Since the exercise began, Hill’s Airmen have generated 110 sorties, including their first 10-jet F-35A sortie Jan. 30 and turned around and launched eight jets that afternoon. They have not lost a single sortie to a maintenance issue and have a 92 percent mission-capable rate, said 1st Lt. Devin Ferguson, assistant officer in charge of the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit. Legacy aircraft average 70 to 85 percent mission-capable."
That was written after 8 days into the exercise.

[dmereifield]

RAF escorting Pakistan plane to Stanstead, no details yet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38899472

[SKB]

[dmereifield]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02 ... -shetland/

[dmereifield]

^^ Typhoons scrambled to interrupt Russian bombers

[LordJim]

It amazes me how short peoples memories are, with the media and public thinking a QRA launch is headline news. These people would think the Russians were invading if they we reporting in the 70s and 80s.

[Defiance]

Glad they report it though, if they stopped then it's likely the majority would assume the Russians aren't bothering anymore. If defence gets in the press in a positive manner then i'm happy.

[ArmChairCivvy]

It amazes me how short peoples memories are, with the media and public thinking a QRA launch is headline news. These people would think the Russians were invading if they we reporting in the 70s and 80s.

Actually the airspace intrusions relating to the countries around the Baltic (save for Germany and Denmark) are well above those levels.
- in the case of Denmark, the Russian ambassador there compensated by saying that "if you put ABM capable defences on your frigates, we will nuke them"

It is not for nothing that the NATO fighter rotation there was set up; Romania (doing the same thing there) puzzles me, though, as I do not see any incursions happening there. May be they just do not make it into the press?

[bobp]

Back in the 1970's we were doing QRA launches several times a week. It was almost routine.

[Old RN]

You cannot compare the Baltic now to the 1980s. In those days East Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia were either part of the USSR or fully allied with it. The current view of the NATO team appears to be that any flight between two parts of the Russian Federation (St Petersburg and Kaliningrad) is a provocation to world peace! No one appears to mention that there are far less Russian forces based in Kaliningrad than in the 1980s.

[ArmChairCivvy]

any flight between two parts of the Russian Federation (St Petersburg and Kaliningrad) is a provocation to world peace! No one appears to mention that there are far less Russian forces based in Kaliningrad than in the 1980s.

Why enroach on sovereign airspace when there is plenty for all in between? This (and the slightly shorter range for Bastion anti-shipping missiles)
http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/wp-conten ... ropped.png
expains why Sweden permanently put a BG on Gotland.

Taking that by surprise would close (together with Kaliningrad) the Baltic for all others. So it is not just the quantities, but also the reach which by now is in a wholly different league from the 80s.

[abc123]

IMHO all this shi* happening in the Baltics is very much overhyped... I understand that getting larger defence budget requiers an enemy, but this is too much...

[ArmChairCivvy]

IMHO all this shi* happening in the Baltics is very much overhyped

It is only a small step from the states bordering the Baltic (especially the northern ones are known for being warlike and always taking the lead in any arms race?) to Ukraine... and that step is called Belorussia.

What is your IMHO on that one; that they have genuinely chosen to stir up trouble with their Eastern neighbour? BTW, the energy button has already been pushed... about the same sequence as with Ukraine (may be; time will tell).

[abc123]

IMHO all this shi* happening in the Baltics is very much overhyped

It is only a small step from the states bordering the Baltic (especially the northern ones are known for being warlike and always taking the lead in any arms race?) to Ukraine... and that step is called Belorussia.

What is your IMHO on that one; that they have genuinely chosen to stir up trouble with their Eastern neighbour? BTW, the energy button has already been pushed... about the same sequence as with Ukraine (may be; time will tell).

About Baltic states, when you have Apartheid-light policy for your population of Russian ethnicity, you can't really expect good relations with Russia.

Russians do not want Baltic states. if they wanted them, they wouldn't give them independence in 1991 in the first place. And what would Putin do with 5-6 millions of angry non-Russians ( Estonians, Lituanians, Letonians )? He has enough problems without them.

[whitelancer]

Russians do not want Baltic states. if they wanted them, they wouldn't give them independence in 1991 in the first place. And what would Putin do with 5-6 millions of angry non-Russians ( Estonians, Lituanians, Letonians )

Oh you mean in the same way they don't want Crimea! As for their populations the Gulags spring to mind.

[ArmChairCivvy]

Crimea! As for their populations the Gulags

Good point, the tatars were sent to "Siberia" from Crimea so that it could become Russian. And when Estonia was "bear-hugged" in the prelude to WW2, the President was the first one on the train for the same destination... many more followed
- angry non-Russians, giving problems? Yep, the Chechens were also removed for decades before they were allowed to return.

[abc123]

Russians do not want Baltic states. if they wanted them, they wouldn't give them independence in 1991 in the first place. And what would Putin do with 5-6 millions of angry non-Russians ( Estonians, Lituanians, Letonians )

Oh you mean in the same way they don't want Crimea! As for their populations the Gulags spring to mind.

Nobody said anything about Crimea. Of course they want Crimea, it's population is 90% ethnic Russian.

And as for Gulags, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are non-Russian majority areas even after gulags. And seriously, gulags? In 2017? Come on, what's next? German concentration camps? Or maybe British in South Africa for the Boers all over again?

[The Armchair Soldier]

Getting way off-topic here guys.

[abc123]

Sorry.....

[marktigger]

And as for Gulags, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are non-Russian majority areas even after gulags. And seriously, gulags? In 2017? Come on, what's next? German concentration camps? Or maybe British in South Africa for the Boers all over again?

(One of comment)

And there weren't concentration camps and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia in the 90's/00's?

humanity is a very thin veneer!

[abc123]

And as for Gulags, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are non-Russian majority areas even after gulags. And seriously, gulags? In 2017? Come on, what's next? German concentration camps? Or maybe British in South Africa for the Boers all over again?

(One of comment)

And there weren't concentration camps and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia in the 90's/00's?

humanity is a very thin veneer!

I agree. Yes, they were, no doubt. But let's not go too far. If they survived Stalin, they will survive Putin as well...

[RetroSicotte]

Come on folks, when a mod asks it to return to the topic, then please abide by that and take further disussion to the appropriate topic or to PM.

[marktigger]

I do wonder how practical it would be for the RAF to take the Early tranches and get them stripped completley and rebuilt with current of next en radars and systems and the airframes refurbished? And what would the cost be?

[abc123]

Come on folks, when a mod asks it to return to the topic, then please abide by that and take further disussion to the appropriate topic or to PM.

Sorry again.

[abc123]

I do wonder how practical it would be for the RAF to take the Early tranches and get them stripped completley and rebuilt with current of next en radars and systems and the airframes refurbished? And what would the cost be?

Interesting question. Maybe sommething along the French costs to upgrade Rafale F1 to F3? IIRC around 25 mil. euros per aircraft?