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>Gen (now Lord) David Richards, the former chief of defence staff, repeatedly questioned the relevance of expensive kit procured by successive governments. “We
by gozur88 10y ago
>Gen (now Lord) David Richards, the former chief of defence staff, repeatedly questioned the relevance of expensive kit procured by successive governments. “We have £1bn destroyers trying to sort out pirates in a little dhow with RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] costing $50, with an outboard motor [costing] $100,” he said.
You sure would hate to find out your ship has total spontaneous breakdowns during its first (and, probably, last) foray into combat with a competent adversary. Every mission during peacetime is useful for training and evaluation.
- jandrese 10y agoIf we were serious about stopping piracy we would bring back the Vietnam era PT boats and flood the waters around Africa with patrols. Unfortunately, that's not what the Navy plans for. They're still preparing for the big cold war battle against the Soviets.
- astrodust 10y agoShip-board drone systems are likely to be the standard deterrent here. A small swarm of these things capable of sounding an alarm and launching a flare over the detected craft would give you a lot more time to prepare your defenses. These things show up on thermal imaging quite well, so finding them is not the problem. It's having systems that constantly scan and can alert reliably in the case of a problem with sufficient warning time that's tricky.
- TrevorJ 10y agoBetween small boats, and drones, boats are more immediately available. Given the fact that the threat is ongoing, it seems wise to employ boats for now.