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[Nickbat]

Quite shocking comparison here of our armed forces strength at the time of the Queen's Silver Jubilee and now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18416646

"At the Silver Jubilee, the Royal Navy had 69 destroyers and frigates, now it has 19. There were 76,200 serving in the Senior Service whereas today it is 34,000. Of course the RAF has been hit hard too, with a force of combat aircraft about one quarter of the size that it was back in 1977, and the Army has lost two thirds of its tanks."

   

[b4ndit]

Shocking and Armed Forces should be increased not decreased

[Vamps]

And iirc we were not involved in any Wars then, I know they do not call it war- peace keeping, social intervention, protection, whatever, now but seems to be to me and possibly more to come...........;eaves us very vulnerable imo...

[PAULCDX]

At a time when things seem unsettled in the world I feel that we need to increasing our services not letting people go !

Feel so sorry for those this is happening to...........   

[jonathanh]

the BBC news got me on this one this morning.  apparently some idiot wants to open the olympics with a parade of farm animals.  what will the rest of the world think of that?

Made me rant at the TV - what about a fly past of the red arrows, a few condorde and a vulcan or two???  plus a bit of good old fashioned millitary marching bands and perhaps a few nuclear misiles - North korea style?

 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Sounds like a good thing to be honest, we are not in any position to sustain a large military plus the figures dont take into account technological advancements which reduce the number of men needed etc.

[mantahatch]

the BBC news got me on this one this morning.  apparently some idiot wants to open the olympics with a parade of farm animals.  what will the rest of the world think of that?

Made me rant at the TV - what about a fly past of the red arrows, a few condorde and a vulcan or two???  plus a bit of good old fashioned millitary marching bands and perhaps a few nuclear misiles - North korea style?

Sadly I don't think there is a single Concorde left in flying condition 

That said there could be hope http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-06/4/concorde-may-fly-again-for-2012-olympics although it is an old story.

[Dishevelled Den]

the BBC news got me on this one this morning.  apparently some idiot wants to open the olympics with a parade of farm animals.  what will the rest of the world think of that?//....

Yes, I thought I'd misheard that one (to use some up to date speak) but when I ran the peice again it was painfully obvious that I had not.

As a result, I felt quite justified in muttering 'Ballicks' as I walked away from the screen wondering just what the hell was going on in this country.

[Dishevelled Den]

I would have thought that the blood-letting should have started within the portals of the MOD given the alleged mismanagement of defence budgets and cronyism (said to be) evident there over recent years.

One should always cut from the back - not from the front and, furthermore, one most certainly should always lead from the front and not from the back.

Ooh, I felt a wee bit of a rant coming on there but everything's cool, I'm down with the mellow - man.

[tigers_gonads]

Sounds like a good thing to be honest, we are not in any position to sustain a large military plus the figures dont take into account technological advancements which reduce the number of men needed etc.

What do you class as a "Large Military" ?

Believe me, I can't really comment on the army or navy but when it comes down the the RAF most of our aircraft are not fit for task and the lads who keep them flying do so on a shoestring 
I've been out 22 years now and even in those days, the amount of bodging we did to keep the aircraft flying would scare the sh*t out of you civvies 

Believe me, it has not got any better 

Spare parts ?
You take a walk out into the hanger and rob bits off the squadron "chrismas tree aircraft "
Order some bits and pieces threw stores then sit back while most of the spares are sent out to Saudi or else where to keep there kites flying 

We are a island nation but because of the total cluster f*ck that was Nimrod mra4, we no longer have the ability to patrol and protect our own waters 
Successive goverments bleat on about our "Nuclear weapons" on board the subs.
All I will say is that if Ivan and his chums want to make our subs nul and void, just sit underwater off the west coast of Scotland with a decient sonar and record the sound signiture as the slip out into the Atlantic. Once you have that, they can track you and you have no deterant 
With nimrod, they could not get close enough 
When the nimrod was scrapped, we even sent some of the crews out and let them ply there trade with other airforces in a feable attempt to try and keep the skills learnt for the future 

The Typhoon is our most advanced front line aircraft but in real terms, it is 10 years out of date and would get its arse kicked by even "so called" third word airforces like India.
While other countrys buy the latest spec, we make do with the poverty spec 
 
   

[cem_devecioglu]

Sounds like a good thing to be honest, we are not in any position to sustain a large military plus the figures dont take into account technological advancements which reduce the number of men needed etc.

agreed Mr DTM..
 
todays news: Turkish govt buying long range missiles with a cost of 4 billion US$
 
for who and for what.. with my money.. 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Exactly, I am not willing to pay extra taxes for the military, we have greater priorities.

[albitz]

All well and good if we can stop thinking we are the worlds policemen and keep sending our armed forces off to fight ill thought out conflicts which we are told wont take long etc.......
Anyone remember John Reid on Afghanistan "hopefully in and out without a single shot being fired ".

[tigers_gonads]

At the end of the day, the goverments first priority is the defence of the Great Britian and all its interests.

That should come before everything.

All goverments think about today is buying the next election victory by wasteing tens of billions on "projects" that keep people happy, hopeing these mugs will fall for it and vote them in next time 
If we didn't go round kissing the yanks arse, Sticking our noses in everywhere in the world in the name of democracy and throwing money at the United States of Europe and the asian continent discuised as "aid", we would have more then enough money to sort out our own country and for a slim BUT affective armed forces which could do the job 

[Varche]

At the end of the day, the goverments first priority is the defence of the Great Britian and all its interests.

That should come before everything.

All goverments think about today is buying the next election victory by wasteing tens of billions on "projects" that keep people happy, hopeing these mugs will fall for it and vote them in next time 
If we didn't go round kissing the yanks arse, Sticking our noses in everywhere in the world in the name of democracy and throwing money at the United States of Europe and the asian continent discuised as "aid", we would have more then enough money to sort out our own country and for a slim BUT affective armed forces which could do the job 

The Job? That is the million dollar question. Do we need a bloated armed services with a bunch of MOD buffoons wasting money by changing the defence procurement every five minutes at vast cost to the tax payer? One positive advantage of being in the EU is that we ought just to be able to have a nominal armed service and chip in what is required. Instead we feel obliged to be at the forefront of every conflict probably purely to showcase our military businesses because they do earn a lot of money for the country.