Special Air Service Lose Veterans And Ta Regiment

[RichM]

If this is the start, then October is going to be serious. If the coalition are cutting back on Gary Kemp et al., then things are really serious - imagine how this will play in the Sun tomorrow:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/7970345/SAS-lose-veterans-and-TA-regiment.html

I think we on here are in no doubt about the coming public sector cuts, but for the general general public this is another important harbinger.

The most important thing? No chance of me taking the wife on holiday this year. I'll have to chat to Chris about working with ghost writers.

[Mega]

I like the ideathat we have aircralf carriers...but no aircralf!!!!

Why at the design stage didn't they say ok we got Thphoons, we use them.

Mike

[MarkG]

Why at the design stage didn't they say ok we got Thphoons, we use them.

Because you'd need to almost redesign the Typhoon from scratch to fly it from an aircraft carrier?

[Bloo Loo]

Because you'd need to almost redesign the Typhoon from scratch to fly it from an aircraft carrier?

a bigger platform maybe?

[MarkG]

a bigger platform maybe?

As I understand it the problem isn't the carrier, it's the plane; the carriers were designed with the option of installing catapults for aircraft that required them so takeoff isn't a big issue. But, for example, the Typhoon can't take the landing loads, it doesn't have folding wings, and I don't believe the engines are designed to handle the kind of crappy environment that naval aircraft have to operate in.

By the time you'd got them flying you'd likely have almost a new aircraft and the carriers would probably have been sold to the Indians as carriers with no planes would be an embarrassment.

Edited August 29, 2010 by MarkG

[Charlie The Tramp Returns]

Now here is a great aircraft my favourite when I was a young lad.

[council dweller]

I'd just like to say that I was in the SAS. I normally keep quite about it out of modesty but I thought I'd mention it. I suppose it's something I have to live with in the same way that all other men have to live with their nagging sense of failure, self doubt and self loathing. Try to get over it....

[Mega]

We KNEW how to do it once!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Lb5CpqIj4

Mike

[The Masked Tulip]

Why is this thread still in the main forum but the headline from the People thread about cats and repossessed houses has been thrown into the madness of off-topic!?

[Bruce Banner]

Why is this thread still in the main forum but the headline from the People thread about cats and repossessed houses has been thrown into the madness of off-topic!?

Because the highly paid mods, who read every thread without fail, have decided that it should be here?

[The Masked Tulip]

Because the highly paid mods, who read every thread without fail, have decided that it should be here?

The mods are paid? How much for my content?

[Bruce Banner]

The mods are paid? How much for my content?

£50 per hour, I believe.

[Charlie The Tramp Returns]

Because the highly paid mods, who read every thread without fail, have decided that it should be here?

They get highly paid now? b u g g e r, and to think I slung it in when it was done for love, any chance of some back pay.

[Bruce Banner]

They get highly paid now? b u g g e r, and to think I slung it in when it was done for love, any chance of some back pay.

It just goes to show that people will believe whatever they want to believe .

[Charlie The Tramp Returns]

It just goes to show that people will believe whatever they want to believe .

To be fair the mods did receive some remuneration, a pint and a sausage roll at a pub meet, if I remember correctly one mod had two sausage rolls.

[gasket37]

I'd just like to say that I was in the SAS. I normally keep quite about it out of modesty but I thought I'd mention it.

so what colour is the boathouse at Hereford?

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

so what colour is the boathouse at Hereford?

SAS boathouse isn't in Hereford.

[RichM]

I think the defence cuts won't be too bad in terms of LT capability. Realistically, even if we had the cash, there's not the stomach in any Western country for any more wars. As long as the really big kit is in place - Trident, carriers - we should be able to buy enough toys off the shelf to be a reasonable force militarily.

In the meantime, a procession of leaks over the coming weeks as various civil servants cry foul at the thought of losing their empires. NHS Direct, the RAF, a couple of universities...

[jackalope]

I like the ideathat we have aircralf carriers...but no aircralf!!!!

Why at the design stage didn't they say ok we got Thphoons, we use them.

Mike

It took just over 20 years to get the Typhoon into operation so even if the political will and financial resources existed (which they don't) to do a carrier version it would decades more to get it completed.

We should have just done a F/A-18C/D acquisition for both the RAF and RN and had them 10 years earlier at a fraction of the price.

[efdemin]

It took just over 20 years to get the Typhoon into operation so even if the political will and financial resources existed (which they don't) to do a carrier version it would decades more to get it completed.

We should have just done a F/A-18C/D acquisition for both the RAF and RN and had them 10 years earlier at a fraction of the price.

Yeah, maybe. I thought we are going to buy some F-35s for the carriers - the debate is/was over whether to get the STOVL version or the catapult-launched version. It's all a bit up in the air with the defence strategic review and looming budget cuts still ongoing though.

The problem is always political - how to keep the UK defence industry happy even though they don't usually make the best or most cost-effective kit. That and willy-waving between the Army/Navy/RAF.

[jackalope]

Yeah, maybe. I thought we are going to buy some F-35s for the carriers - the debate is/was over whether to get the STOVL version or the catapult-launched version. It's all a bit up in the air with the defence strategic review and looming budget cuts still ongoing though.

CATOBAR will never happen on the CVF carriers as it will cost money and the UK doesn't have any of that. They will probably end up with one reduced wing of F-35s (maybe 24 airframes forward deployed) on the QE and the PoW used for RW only ops.

[Bloo Loo]

As I understand it the problem isn't the carrier, it's the plane; the carriers were designed with the option of installing catapults for aircraft that required them so takeoff isn't a big issue. But, for example, the Typhoon can't take the landing loads, it doesn't have folding wings, and I don't believe the engines are designed to handle the kind of crappy environment that naval aircraft have to operate in.

By the time you'd got them flying you'd likely have almost a new aircraft and the carriers would probably have been sold to the Indians as carriers with no planes would be an embarrassment.

Lucky for us then, we live on an island in the sea...no need for carriers.

[geezer466]

Col Tim Collins, a former infantry commander who served in the SAS, said it had come to the point where “the experience they bring is no longer needed on operational tasks”.

“At the age of 45 or 50 you are no longer swinging through windows dishing out death.

“The regiment is a young man’s game and in fairness the old and bold have had a good run.” "

No substitute for age in Ops/Int, I can tell you, and the PSIs attached 21 and 23 and the guys running Training Wing didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up with lads half their age, either. Not sure why Col TC is spouting that stuff.

[@contradevian]

£50 per hour, I believe.

I hope they are on a bonus too!

[jackalope]

Lucky for us then, we live on an island in the sea...no need for carriers.

Only 9 (probably actually 8 as the Russian one never seems to work) navies in the world have operational carriers. The other two hundred odd countries in the world manage just fine without them so why can't the UK?

Edited August 30, 2010 by jackalope