4 ms·

This always seems like such an important caveat that is rarely included in these lines of thought - Assuming they're worried about being invaded. Thankfully, m

This always seems like such an important caveat that is rarely included in these lines of thought - Assuming they're worried about being invaded. Thankfully, most countries are not in a position where they're even slightly concerned about a physical invasion. We have almost universally decided that invasion/conquest is a morally bad thing to engage in, so to my mind the continued effort to expand military forces implies an intention to break this agreed upon moral standing or at the least a lack of commitment to the stance. There are allegedly 20 aircraft in the Irish Air Corps [1] and I sure hope we're in advanced enough stage of society that we're not solely reliant on those to protect ourselves! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Air_Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Air_Corps

LAC-Tech 5y ago
My understanding is that the Irish Air Corps is so small because because the UK provides air defence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland%E2%80%93NATO_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland%E2%80%93NATO_relations In February 2015, two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" nuclear-capable strategic bombers entered Irish-controlled airspace without permission, without forewarning, with their transponders switched off and failed to file flight plans, causing serious concern at the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which was forced to divert a number of civil passenger aircraft out of the path of the Russian bombers as a precautionary measure.[24] The Russian military aircraft were interrogated by RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets scrambled from the United Kingdom, demonstrating the lack of an Irish military response and the reliance on the UK for the protection of Irish airspace. ... The reports revealed that the Irish Department of Defence, Department of Foreign Affairs and Irish Aviation Authority entered into a bilateral agreement with the British RAF, Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry for Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office permitting the British military to conduct armed operations inside Irish sovereign or Irish-controlled airspace in the event of a real time or envisaged threat of an aerial terrorist-related attack on Ireland or on a neighbouring country.
- conor_f 5y ago
  Completely fair and accurate, but I think I didn't make my intention clear in my original post. I don't think the binding force of security is ever really militarily based. I don't think the only reason Irish airspace isn't inundated with threats is because of an agreement with the UK. I think internationally the overwhelming binding force of security is mutual agreement be it through trade arrangements, potential economic disruptions of being ostracized by the international community, etc etc.
  - lmm 5y ago
    I think all that fundamentally rests on the foundation of the raw military capacity of that "international community". Which, like most low-level implementation details, is something we only notice when it breaks.

LAC-Tech 5y ago

My understanding is that the Irish Air Corps is so small because because the UK provides air defence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland%E2%80%93NATO_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland%E2%80%93NATO_relations In February 2015, two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" nuclear-capable strategic bombers entered Irish-controlled airspace without permission, without forewarning, with their transponders switched off and failed to file flight plans, causing serious concern at the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which was forced to divert a number of civil passenger aircraft out of the path of the Russian bombers as a precautionary measure.[24] The Russian military aircraft were interrogated by RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets scrambled from the United Kingdom, demonstrating the lack of an Irish military response and the reliance on the UK for the protection of Irish airspace. ... The reports revealed that the Irish Department of Defence, Department of Foreign Affairs and Irish Aviation Authority entered into a bilateral agreement with the British RAF, Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry for Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office permitting the British military to conduct armed operations inside Irish sovereign or Irish-controlled airspace in the event of a real time or envisaged threat of an aerial terrorist-related attack on Ireland or on a neighbouring country.

conor_f 5y ago
Completely fair and accurate, but I think I didn't make my intention clear in my original post. I don't think the binding force of security is ever really militarily based. I don't think the only reason Irish airspace isn't inundated with threats is because of an agreement with the UK. I think internationally the overwhelming binding force of security is mutual agreement be it through trade arrangements, potential economic disruptions of being ostracized by the international community, etc etc.
- lmm 5y ago
  I think all that fundamentally rests on the foundation of the raw military capacity of that "international community". Which, like most low-level implementation details, is something we only notice when it breaks.