The Few,the handful of pilots who heroically defended the United Kingdom in it's darkest hour,or as racist and misandrist Royal Air Force officers might describe them: "useless white male pilots".
Showing posts with label Royal Air Force. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Royal Air Force. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 June 2023
Saturday, 1 April 2023
AR-15 Rifles For The British Armed Forces
The Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Transformation) at the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence,General Stephen Laughter who is soon to retire and take up a post with a small arms manufacturer in the United States of America,has chosen game-changing AR-15 rifles to replace the SA80 family of weapons currently in service with the Royal Navy,British Army and Royal Air Force going forward,a decision he described as a no-brainer,he added that procurement of this sixty year old design demonstrated a commitment to modernisation in the face of an increasingly dangerous security environment and that in an era of ever closer military integration using the same weapon as key allies shall be transformational.
Thursday, 12 May 2022
The Racist Air Force
To tolerate racism is to endorse it,as only racists endorse racism,has Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston,the professional head of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force,sacked the racists who wanted "a pilot, who is preferably not white male" to "be the RAF face at a press event for the release of Top Gun 2" (it is not clear why a Royal Air Force officer should be promoting a foreign film about the United States' Navy)?
Monday, 8 November 2021
Autonomous Combat Aircraft Swarm Attacks Warships
This picture shows Bristol Beaufighters from 144 and 254 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force,455 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force and 489 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force attacking German 'M' class minesweepers off the Dutch coast on the Twenty-fifth of August,Ninteen Forty-four,overwhelming the enemy with superior numbers is a tactic which predates Stone Henge,yet the wet behind the ears consider swarm attacks to be transformational.
Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Carrier Strike Group 21: The Republic Of Cyprus
Her Majesty's Ship Queen Elizabeth arrived in the Republic of Cyprus during what it's President Nicos Anastasiades described as "The largest fire since 1974".
Despite the Royal Navy's long history of providing assistance to foreign countries in their hour of need,"First on the scene of disaster and promptly at work,defiant of danger",her helicopters do not appear to have helped to fight this fire.
However,Royal Air Force helicopters did.
This was an excellent opportunity to generate goodwill missed for want of fire fighting equipment and training.
Saturday, 20 March 2021
The Six Aeroplanes: Prefect,Pegasus,Perseus,Centaurus,Falcon And Furious
Further to an earlier piece on rationalising the United Kingdom's naval and military helicopter fleet and another on Hector,Hercules and Hermes,herein we shall list the only aeroplane types which the United Kingdom's armed forces actually need (rather than have or want).
The Prefect is an aeroplane of approximately one and a half long tons maximum take off weight used for both naval and military initial aeroplane pilot training.
The Prefect shall eventually be replaced by an aircraft designed and built in the United Kingdom to stimulate the United Kingdom's economy and secure the future of the United Kingdom's aeroplane industry.
Picture: Grand Logistics
The Pegasus shall be an aeroplane of approximately ten long tons maximum take off weight used for both naval and military multi engine aeroplane pilot training,low intensity combat operations and for other,noncombat,tasks for which a larger aeroplane is unneccessary or impractical such as the Waterguard Service (surveillance and search and rescue) and Scottish Ambulance Service (air ambulance) charters.
The Pegasus shall be an all new aircraft designed and built in the United Kingdom to stimulate the United Kingdom's economy and secure the future of the United Kingdom's aeroplane industry.
Picture: Grand Logistics
The Perseus shall be an aeroplane of approximately fifty long tons maximum take off weight used for both naval and military multi engine aeroplane pilot training,combat patrol and for other,noncombat,tasks such as Foreign Office (secure transport) charter.
The Perseus shall be an all new aircraft designed and built in the United Kingdom to stimulate the United Kingdom's economy and secure the future of the United Kingdom's aeroplane industry.
The Centaurus shall be an aeroplane of approximately three hundred long tons maximum take off weight used for military four engine aeroplane pilot training,strategic transport,tactical transport,naval mine laying,aerial refuelling and for other noncombat tasks for which a large aeroplane is necessary such as the Foreign Office (foreign aid) charter.
The Centaurus shall be an all new aircraft designed and built in the United Kingdom to stimulate the United Kingdom's economy and secure the future of the United Kingdom's aeroplane industry.
The Falcon shall be an aeroplane of approximately ten long tons maximum take off weight used for both naval and military combat aeroplane pilot training,and for other noncombat tasks such as weapons trials and the Aviation Medicine Flight.
The Falcon shall be an all new aircraft designed and built in the United Kingdom to stimulate the United Kingdom's economy and secure the future of the United Kingdom's aeroplane industry.
The Furious shall be an aeroplane of approximately fifty long tons maximum take off weight used for both naval and military combat aeroplane pilot training,air defence,air attack and aerial reconnaissance.
The Furious shall be an all new aircraft designed and built in the United Kingdom to stimulate the United Kingdom's economy and secure the future of the United Kingdom's aeroplane industry.
Monday, 4 June 2018
The Butt Report 1941
Photo: Unknown photographer
During the Second World War British armed forces suffered a long string of catastrophic military defeats in Norway,Belgium,France,Greece,Hong Kong,Singapore and other places.
A significant factor in all of those defeats was a lack of tactical air power.
Tactical air power on land and sea had been starved of resources to fund a strategic bomber force.
Photo: Unknown Royal Air Force official photographer.
One Lancaster bomber cost as much as five Spitfire fighters.
The military resources lost to Allied forces as a result of the lack of tactical air power were many times greater than the resources lost to the Axis forces as a result of the strategic bombing campaign.
This was illustrated by one of the most important documents of the Second World War which was written by David Miles Bensusan-Butt and known as "The Butt Report".
Many years ago we wished to give our readers an opportunity to read this important report but were unable to find an online copy.
Someone has now solved that problem.
His name is William Thomas and he is the author of the Ether Wave Propaganda blog.
He has transcribed the report and published his transcription online in this blog post.
His transcription can be read here:
The Butt Report 1941.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Some Statistics On Royal Air Force Operations In Libya
Statistics on Royal Air Force operations over Libya have been rather scant and incomplete.
This has made it rather difficult to judge the performance of British combat aircraft in Operation Ellamy.
However,there are now some useful pieces of information available.
On the 19th of May 2011,Scottish Member of Parliament (M.P.) Angus Robertson asked the following question in the House Of Commons:
"To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many missions the (a) Nimrod R1, (b) Sentinel R1, (c) VC-10 and (d) C-130 have flown in Operation Ellamy."
He received the following answer from the Secretary of State for Defence Dr.Liam Fox:
"Up to 8 May 2011 the UK has flown the following sorties in support of Operation Ellamy:
Aircraft type
|
Number of sorties (1)
|
VC10
|
110
|
C130
|
15
|
Nimrod
|
20
|
Sentinel
|
50
|
(1) Numbers are rounded to the nearest five."
| |
Mr.Robertson went on to ask the following:
"To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many sorties the (a) GR4 Tornado and (b) Typhoon has flown in Operation Ellamy;what type of mission was flown in each case;and how many weapons of each type were released;
(2) how many dual mode Brimstone missiles have been used by UK forces in Operation Ellamy to date."
Dr.Fox replied:
"Up to 8 May 2011 the UK has flown about 300 GR4 Tornado and 140 Typhoon sorties as part of Operation Ellamy.
Both aircraft types have conducted missions to protect civilians in support of UN Security Council Resolution 1973,and the Typhoons have also conducted missions in support of no-fly zone enforcement.
In all,approximately 240 weapons have been fired by these aircraft during these missions.
These were a combination of Dual Mode Seeker Brimstone and Storm Shadow missiles,Enhanced Paveway II and Paveway IV Precision Guided Munitions.
I am unable to provide a breakdown of these figures for reasons of operational security."
Operation Ellamy began on the 19th of March 2011,which means these figures cover the 50 days between then and the 8th of May.
Over that period V.C.10 tanker aircraft have flown 110 sorties or about 2.2 sorties per day.
It is difficult to calculate a sortie generation figure for these aircraft as numbers involved in this operation appear to vary over time,most recently the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that 6 V.C.10s were involved in Operation Ellamy,other sources often put the figure at 3 V.C.10s.
These numbers would give us a best case of 0.73 sorties per aircraft per day and a worst case of 0.37 sorties per aircraft per day.
Both of these figures are well below the 1 sortie per aircraft per day which the Royal Air Force tanker fleet often generates in combat.
It is difficult to calculate a sortie generation figure for these aircraft as numbers involved in this operation appear to vary over time,most recently the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that 6 V.C.10s were involved in Operation Ellamy,other sources often put the figure at 3 V.C.10s.
These numbers would give us a best case of 0.73 sorties per aircraft per day and a worst case of 0.37 sorties per aircraft per day.
Both of these figures are well below the 1 sortie per aircraft per day which the Royal Air Force tanker fleet often generates in combat.
The C130 Hercules transports flew 15 sorties or about 0.3 sorties per day ,1 sortie every 3 days on average.
Nimrod R.1 electronic reconnaissance aircraft flew 20 sorties or about 0.4 sorties per day,2 sorties every 5 days on average.
As there is only 1 Nimrod based at Akrotiri,this gives 0.4 sorties per aircraft per day.
The Sentinel R.1 radar reconnaissance aircraft flew 50 sorties or about 1 sortie per day.
With 2 Sentinels based at Akrotiri,this equates to 0.5 sorties per aircraft per day.
It is likely to take about 4 hours for the Sentinel to transit to and from Cyrus to Tripoli on each sortie.
Tornado bombers flew 300 sorties or about 6 sorties per day.
As there have been 12 Tornados involved for most of Operation Ellamy,this equates to just over 0.5 sorties per aircraft per day,well below the 0.8 sorties per aircraft per day which Canadian Hornets are generating.
Flying sorties of 5.5 hours duration on average,the 12 British Tornados are generating 19 hours on station over Libya each day,an average of 1 hour and 35 minutes on station per Tornado per day (assuming an average transit speed of 500 miles per hour over the 580 miles between Gioia Del Colle and Tripoli).
This compares poorly with the 3 hours on station which each Canadian Hornet generates per day.
Each Canadian Hornet is generating 89% more time on station over Libya per day than each British Tornado.
Typhoon fighters flew 140 sorties or about 2.8 sorties per day.
A total of 240 weapons were released,an average of 4.8 weapons per day or 0.55 weapons per fast jet sortie.
It is interesting to note that,other than a handful of Storm Shadow missiles,these weapons range from the 1,000 pound (450kg) bomb based Enhanced Paveway II down to the 110 pound (50kg) Brimstone.
Thus weapon expenditure in 50 days of combat over Libya probably totals less than about 120 tonnes of ordnance and could be as little as 12 tonnes.
By way of comparison,a large aircraft carrier like the Nimitz class carries about 3,200 tonnes of ordnance,with the replenishment vessel which accompanies it carrying a similar amount.
The French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle carries 600 tonnes of ordnance (other sources say 2,100 tons) and 3,200 tonnes of aviation fuel.
It would be interesting to know how much ordnance is carried by the Royal Navy's Invincible class ships and also by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's replenishment vessels,unfortunately we do not know the answer to that but it is likely to be far higher than 120 tonnes.
It would be interesting to know how much ordnance is carried by the Royal Navy's Invincible class ships and also by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's replenishment vessels,unfortunately we do not know the answer to that but it is likely to be far higher than 120 tonnes.
The only figures we have for the ordnance capacity of the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers are unfortunately expressed in cubic metres rather than tonnes which is less than helpful.
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