SW1 wrote: It also has over a 1000 deployed to Mali
That bit is the interesting one as it is clearly more than a training mission (Taleban is increasing activity in the normally more peaceful Afghan North, so the nature of the activity there may also change; at least the Germans took the right kit with them, unlike us to the South - or the Americans to Mogadishu, for that matter).
- also, the back filling in Mali was done at France's request and many more countries responded (our Chinooks go in to replace those from the Netherlands)
I also seem to remember that German Tornados lobbed 250-300 missiles at Serbian air defences, when the latter chose to illuminate our or other NATO a/c on missions
- having had the good sense to equip theirs for SEAD missions (something that we have, unexplicably, skimped on). As for the headline here, the gap will finally be closed with Spear3s for our JSF... when again was the IOD for Spear3 going to be?
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)