Britain to send war message to Argentina
Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:18PM GMT
In a bid to secure its last outpost in South America, the British government is to deploy its most sophisticated warship to the occupied Falkland Islands to give a clear war message to Argentina.
The Ministry of Defense revealed that destroyer HMS Dauntless will sail to the South Atlantic in order to substitute frigate HMS Montrose in the coming weeks. It was claimed that the deployment was long planned but the decision is evidently put in practice when a war of words between Argentina and Britain over the disputed Falkland islands (known as Las Malvinas to Argentina) has intensified.
Tory MP Julian Brazier, who is also a defense select committee's member, stressed that Britain's move will send a “powerful and timely message” to the Argentina government that UK “means business when it comes to defending the Falklands.”
While repeating UK government's colonial policy, Brazier said, "These islanders want to remain British and any oil or gas found in its waters will be British.”
The islands, located about 250 nautical miles from Argentina, have been a British colony for over 180 years. However, Argentina also claimed sovereignty as it controlled the islands before, and the two countries fought a destructive 74-day war over the islands in 1982.
As 30th anniversary of the Argentina-Britain war nears, the dispute over the territory is heating up once again. The British government is attempting to prevent any counter-move taken by Argentina to reclaim its occupied islands.
Jeremy Browne, Foreign Office minister in charge of Latin America, will travel to the islands in June to attend the anniversary of capturing the islands from Argentina. It was formerly announced that the Duke of Cambridge Prince William will also be posted to spend six weeks on the islands as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot next month. Buenos Aires described the move as being “provocative.”
The destroyer is a £1billion warship equipped with supersonic Sea Viper missiles, radar and an air defense system, being able of shooting a cricket ball moving at three times the speed of sound out of the sky.
A Navy source said that the warship could “shoot down Argentine fighters as soon as they take off from their bases," insisting the deployment would give the Argentina government “serious pause” for thinking about their claims.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary William Hague underplayed the deployment of the warship, claiming they were routine moves, but warning “the Royal Navy packs a considerable punch.”
The Daily Telegraph publishes today an article on the reasons why India chose Dassault Rafale rather than Eurofighter Typhoon:
Part of this article follows:
Part of this article follows:
This article is of course largely industrial propaganda, but I understand from this that, in the eyes of the journalist writing this article, the UK spends a lot of money on superior aircraft then cannot develop the weapons to make them really useful in war. ( And are German Typhoons just as limited in their usefulness? ). It brings to mind the episode in 1935 when Mussolini attacked Abyssinia ( now Ethiopia ) and the UK government moved battleships in and towards the Mediterranean which for budgetary reasons lacked the shells for their main armament. And there is the current expectation with some people that the one Queen Elizabeth II class carrier that will become operational about 2020 will have to wait another 10 years for its F-35Cs. Wouldn't the UK make a more competent and military stronger impression if it abolished its Trident submarines and spend the money on a better balanced Navy and Air Force. ( I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to judge the truth about these allegations, I'm talking about the impression made ).
2030 is when many are suggesting we will be able to deploy a full complement of 36 F-35Cs, certainly if the RAF is put in charge of the Joint Force that is highly probable. We will have one sqn available for regular deployment from 2020 anyway. And the name of the first carrier is HMS Queen Elizabeth, not the II, as she is named for good Queen Bess and all the ships named in her honour!
CottageLV
Banned Idiot
?????WTF?????? 2030?????
I don't think it will take that long. The Royal Navy/RAF would be the first foreign military to receive those planes. 2020 would be the very latest.
The point is about Governmental incompetance in the aquisition process, and a UK Chancellor who would rather not spend any money on defence at all if he could get away with it (much like most of his predecessors!). Although no orders have even been placed yet beyond the three trials aircraft (F-35Bs, though efforts are underway to renegotiate at least one of these as a 'C' model), there are a lot of negative rumours circulating about the actual production numbers to be ordered. Originally 150 were required, to be split 60 for the FAA and 90 for the RAF. This dropped a couple of years ago around 138, but now many sources are quoting an order of only fifty aircraft (most likely RAF sources for whom those aircraft will only be used to replace Tornado GR4s). If a fifty aircraft order is forthcoming, it will more likely represent a 'Tranche 1' buy, as the Lightning will be in production long after the current government is gone and there is nothing to stop future governments placing further orders. It was never the plan for the 150/138 to be ordered/delivered in one go, deliveries were always going to be spread over a longer period. Carrier Strike IOC with a single Naval sqn able to deploy form a Carrier is currently scheduled for 2020, while land based strike IOC with at least one sqn should be slightly earlier. We will then build up to the full force level, but the Government's slowed down aquisition plans may well delay this for several years. Bottom line we could have full capability much earlier if we wanted, but the CONDEMs seem to believe it's more sensible to give the money straight to foreign dictators as Aid instead...
For all I know, german Typhoons are actually even more limited (in the A-G role). The Brits at least just put stuff like a pod & LGB under the thing and drop it. Here it seems every pylon has to be cleared to carry a weapon in a symmetric & assymetric layout in a month long, million € industry test run, so everyone can blame potential failure on someone else.
With the amount of money spent ever decreasing, development of the full potential of the plane will take longer & longer. And the costs will have to be offset by ever smaller production numbers, further increasing per unit cost, in turn hampering development.
I guess we're at a point were the Typhoon consortium is actually looking for export orders, so we can finance the ongoing development of the aircraft for ourselves. Now that is of course a vicious circle. We can't afford to upgrade the stuff because there's no exports, we won't get export orders because the system is not up to date.
It would be an insult to say I like it.