MR SNUGGLES GOES TO FUNKYTOWN or VLADIMIR'S SPECIAL sex change OPERATION

midlifecrisis

midlifecrisis

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Nice to see Volodimyr Zelenskyy in London, meeting Rishi, addressing both houses and then meeting King Charles later.
In a case of, if you don't ask, you won't get. He's requested some of our jets. Rishi has asked the minister of defence to look into this.

So what can we offer?

We haven't got much ourselves, everything Tornado and before is retired. We only have Typhoons, F35s and Hawks as fast jets.
There's no way the US or anyone sane would let Ukraine have F35s, there's too much top secret technology in them, even the airframe has sensitivities, with materials and shape. Hawks are ok for point defence, so maybe, but Ukraine would feel short changed.
So it's only Typhoons, realistically on offer. The RAF initially ordered and received 160, and still have 139. Of those 101 are in service so 28 are either in deep maintenance or storage. So enough for a squadron, possibly two, however it would spur those with F-16s to think about loaning theirs.

Could this happen, quite likely, apparently we're already training Ukrainian pilots...and that's a good thing.
 
DLax69

DLax69

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Saw some stories earlier. Interesting request...does anyone truly anticipate hot air-to-air combat being a deciding factor in repulsing the invasion?
 
midlifecrisis

midlifecrisis

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DLax69 said:
Saw some stories earlier. Interesting request...does anyone truly anticipate hot air-to-air combat being a deciding factor in repulsing the invasion?
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Any General since Hannibal was a lad, knows that the high ground is best is a battle.

The Russians have failed to gain air superiority and are resorting to launching long range missiles or drones from afar. Even this isn't efficient or effective as they're being shot down. They're not even bombing strategically or tactically, hitting civilian population rather than military targets. It's all reminiscent of the Luftwaffe in 1940.
 
UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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It's widely accepted that the RAF got the shaft in the last Defence Review. Contracting out the initial phases of pilot training is also widely accepted as having been a complete pig's @rse. Our own frontline fighter strength is at its lowest since the formation of the RAF. So, no. We have no airframes to spare. Even the Hawks are grounded atm because of a critical safety issue.
Intelligent thinking is to settle on one type of airframe, so that training, logistics and operations are as simple as possible. I'm guessing that Tornado variants will be gathered up from NATO and other airforces that still use them.
We have a lot of ex-Tornado instructor pilots still in the service and I suspect this is the type of training that HMG is referring to.
Retraining ex-Soviet era Ukrainian fast jet pilots to fly Tornados would not be insurmountable I suspect. The beauty of Tornado is the different variants give excellent capabilities. Otherwise you'd be talking about different air frames / planes to do different jobs, when the whole philosophy underpinning how we support Ukraine is KISS. Keep it simple, stupid ;)
The Russians aren't contesting Ukrainian airspace for the moment. Evidence suggests this is because the Russian air force can't even meet the air defence requirements of Russian borders. Billions of rubles meant to be used to upgrade the Russian armed forces over the last twenty years was mostly stolen by the oligarchs who elevated Putin to the Presidency.
I believe that with NATO MBTs, IFVs, indirect fires etc the Ukrainians can push the Russians out of Eastern Ukraine.
But the Ukrainians also want to take the Crimea back and that is a much tougher nut to crack and for that, they'll need
several squadrons of Tornado GR4As for air superiority and precision ground attack. The Tornado is forty plus years old
but if the targeting systems can be adapted to work with the latest air to air missiles, it will hold its own, in the hands of well
above average pilots using superior tactics.
 
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UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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When his columns of tanks, military vehicles and tens of thousands of men heading towards Ukraine were spotted by satellite and the news disseminated. Putin's response a day or two ago, was to claim that the massive mobilisation is for the purposes of training exercises only. So, nothing to see. Move along please. This is no longer a Special Military Operation. The nomenclature now is 'Training Exercise'. I bet the Ukrainians are relieved to hear that from their fraternal Russian allies.
 
UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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Scaf said:
There was a spate of road name changes last year just after the invasion -

en.wikipedia.org

List of streets renamed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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I fervently hope that the three men and one woman of Led by Donkeys won't be prosecuted.

A would also hope that protesters would do the same thing outside every Chinese Embassy and Consulate.
The Chinese Communist Party is the biggest cancer on humanity since Adolf Hitler and his Axis partners.
Personally, I think the Tibetan flag is a good place to start, as Tibet has been terrorised by the Chinese since
they invaded in 1950. Every treaty the CCP has signed since it's inception, it has subsequently broken and
dishonoured. Every one. Personally, I think the Tibetan flag is beautiful and deserves to be flown all across
Tibet again.
50_750x750_Front_Color-White.jpg
 
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UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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CatmanV2 said:
Someone was listening:

www.standard.co.uk

London street to be renamed Kyiv Road to mark first anniversary of invasion

A section of a London street will be renamed Kyiv Road to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Westminster City Council said.
www.standard.co.uk www.standard.co.uk

C
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It ought to have been the section of road that the Russian Embassy is on. So they must include it in their address.
I believe one or two European countries did this. God bless their cotton socks :)
 
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