A Tale of Three Upgrades – Chinook
Returning to the familiar subject of helicopters; the MoD has announced a number of upgrades to the UK rotary fleet.
On the Subject of Helicopters
The issue of helicopters has been brought to a head this week following the news of 15 casualties in Afghanistan in less than a fortnight.
The opposition and media have hammered the hapless Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence. General Sir Richard Dannatt, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff and Air Vice Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, the current Chief of the Defence Staff, also raised the issue. Even the usually toothless Defence Select Committee gave the PM and SoS Defence a grilling.
Stepping aside from the fact that the mainstream media and most of the opposition have only really run in any meaningful way with this issue when they smell the vulnerability of the Prime Minister combined the cynical newsworthiness of the death of the highest ranking officer in operations since the Falklands conflict it is obvious that the lack of helicopters, amongst many other issues, is having a material effect on the strategic objectives, in so much that we have any.
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