Search and rescue service sold off

[Xenophon PCDGS]

No I don't believe it at all. It was tongue in cheek. Some people take life far too seriously. You only live once make the most of it

Alan

I am pleased that this matter appears to be resolved. All I will say is that certain matters do not lend themselves easily to hypotheical situation scenarios.

 

[sonorguy]

I'm not sure it's due to National decline at least not entirely. Personally I'd suggest it's got to do with defence spending (where a replacement would be funded from) not being a priority of this and every government since the War. The biggest priorities are Social Protection (£220bn), Health (£137bn) and Education (£97bn) whilst defence clocks in at £40bn. Therefore, if you're the Chief of the Defence Staff, looking at how much money you have do you spend it on replacing an aircraft that's old but works or on an equipment upgrade for the Royal Navy's Type 23 Frigates, or on integrating Brimstone onto the Tornado, or upgrading the L85 rifle to the A2 standard?

If defence had been a bigger priority for government then it might have been possible to afford to replace the Sea Kings which currently perform SAR. However, the job of the military is to defend the nation and deliver foreign policy objectives so SAR takes a back seat when it comes to getting a slice of an always dwindling budget.

Figures from page six of the 2013 Budget found here.

It's also because military SAR isn't the requirement it once was. The civilian bit was only ever a useful sideline to the main role of rescuing downed aviators.

Most of the likely future conflict scenarios involve us operating in areas where we won't have clear air superiority or a monopoly on ground based weapons systems that can take out a helicopter, Afghanistan is an anomaly in this respect. This means that SAR helicopters would be far more vulnerable than in previous conflicts, possibly to the point of being undeployable in that role.

There's also the fact that as we go through the next two or three decades there will be a much higher use of UAVs or drones, as opposed to manned airframes. The US already use drone supply helicopters in Afghanistan to reduce the risks to aircrew.