A great video on a soon to be withdrawn system.
No doubt this is part of a concerted effort to stop the SDSR mandated withdrawal of this brilliant system, either that or it is an unofficial sales pitch.
Next to MRA4, this was the SDSR’s most inexplicable decision.
…or an official sales pitch, to the interested foreign buyers?
Cameron, Clegg, Osborne should hang their heads in shame if they ditch this new expensive needed intelligence kit. Thats the trouble with politicians who have no real world experience.
“Thats the trouble with politicians who have no real world experience.”
Especially this current bunch, none of whome have ever been anything other than politicians – and politics don’t count as a proper job . . .
Get in there nice wee PR video from the RAF on one of the most idiotic decisions of the SDSR. One thing I do notice is how rugged the interior of the aircraft looks which is something I didn’t expect from a biz jet platform.
Yes, Euan, those intelligence officers (2/3 of them female) were not big, and the guy in charge was not huge. But with all the walls lined with extra cabling, he could not stand up straight, most of the time!
ACC
Im told that interested buyers have already been for a look at this truly exceptional piece of kit. We need to reverse this decision as priority 1.
ACC
You cant stand up straight in a biz configured global express either if your above about 5ft 10.
If this does not save Sentinel then nothing will!
Actually looking at it again I would say it’s not a great deal smaller than the Nimrod fuselage and I nearly brained myself once on the AAR probe where it comes through the cockpit although I’m 6’3”. I don’t think I would like to be up in a Sentinel R1 for extended periods of time which is probably a contributing factor for omitting the AAR capability although it would still be nice to a removable one just in case.
Given the kind of warfare we’ve been involved with in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sentinel has arguably been more useful to us than Sentry.
Even with the E3 deployed for Libya, it’s the events now on the ground that will determin how that operation plays out.
Interestingly (or not), the RAF’s own website blurb on Sentinel mentions the SDSR, and the RAF retaining the Sentinel system until the end of Op Herrick, but then in the next sentence says:
“5(AC) Sqn will continue to operate the Sentinel system until a suitable platform has been developed onto which this valuable capability can be transferred.”
Wishful thinking perhaps?
Hi Mark,
RE “You cant stand up straight in a biz configured global express either if your above about 5ft 10” I had first drafted also that in a biz jet it is normally the guys who sit down and the gals (of that height) who walk the aisle, with drinks – but took it off as too chauvinistic!
Anyway, we paid a bn for the whole system. Surely we will get that much. It does buy (at US internal ‘mates’ prices) 4 E-8s, which are self-contained, as opposed to Sentinel needing the ground component somewhere near enough, if not in theater
– for the latter reason, I posted somewhere that we need to keep the 6-wheeled, air-droppable Pinzgauers at least for Sentinel/ Command&Radio vehicles/ Ambulances as long as we maintain the idea of deployment by airdrop (other than SF only)
“On the ground, it is an unremarkable aircraft…”
Just how many more enormous lumps and bumps do the RAF need to stick on it before the journalist thinks, “Hmmm, this one looks a bit odd…”
RL,
:-)
Boss,
The Sentinel is a thing of beauty. No really, that’s not Friday afternoon talking, it’s a thing of beauty. And though you know I can usually be found in Dark Blue FC’s terraces (although I’ll root for the green, even in their away khaki, out of historic loyalties) but Sentinel is precisely the kind of first-class capability choice that could and can justify a distinct and vital role for the RAF. Of course it’s just not Biggles enough for the blokes running High Wycombe these days but really, twice as many Sentinels plus proper transport numbers and a medium-term plan for some kind of Taranis-based “regional bomber” (plus a bit of high-end QRA at home that could move forward to Norway or the Med if needed) would produce a vibrant and excellent service. Just not one run by a fighter mafia. But a very fine one.