Britain To Double It's Drone Fleet

New Afghanistan Drones To Be Remote-Controlled From Britain As RAF Doubles Its Unmanned Aircraft Strike Force -- Daily Mail

Britain is doubling the number of armed RAF drones flying missions in Afghanistan.

And for the first time, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be controlled by airmen at computer screens in the UK.

Two ‘pilots’ will operate the robots via satellite from a hi-tech hub at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

Military commanders say the UK’s £10million Reaper spy-drones give allied forces an edge over the Taliban by monitoring an entire battlefield and carrying out strikes against insurgents.

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More News On Britain Doubling It's Drone Fleet

UK to double number of drones in Afghanistan -- The Guardian
RAF drone squadron to be operated from UK -- The Telegraph
UK Reaper force set to double -- Defence Management
Doubled armed drones fleet to be operated from Lincolnshire -- ITV News
UK to double its armed drone fleet in Afghanistan -- AP
Britain to double number of drones in Afghanistan: report -- Reuters
Britain to double Afghanistan drone fleet -- AFP

The Shrinking British Army

New Year Lay-Offs: Army To Fire 8,000 Soldiers In 'Fast-Track' Redundancies And Sackings Of Over-45s -- Daily Mail

* The cut will reduce the Army to 86,000 - its smallest since the 1700s
* A further 4,000 soldiers will go by 2020 in the huge cutbacks
* Every regiment of the Regular Army will be hit with only the Special Forces protected from lay-offs
* Under a controversial new proposal, British Army officers will be forced to retire at 45 – ten years earlier than at present

Eight thousand British soldiers – many serving on the front line in Afghanistan – will be told days after Christmas that they are to lose their jobs.

Redundancy notices will be sent to servicemen and women telling them their careers are over as part of sudden speeded-up cutbacks by the Ministry of Defence.

The Army has already been shaken by the announcement of a swathe of cuts, which included the loss of historic regiments and the prospect of a gradual reduction in personnel over the next eight years.

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My Comment: Talk about being a shell of it's former self .... at this rate (and there will be even more cuts) there will be nothing left by the 2030.

The Shrinking British Military

Army To Shrink To Smallest Size Since Boer War While Reservists' Role Bolstered -- The Guardian

• Regulars to fall from 100,000 to 84,000 after 2014
• £1.5bn earmarked to beef up reserves and fund equipment
• Money to cover 14 delayed Chinooks and three spy planes

The army will be reduced to its smallest size since the Boer war under plans to be announced by Liam Fox, the defence secretary, on Monday.

It will shrink from more than 100,000 regulars to about 84,000, as reforms will make reserves better trained and better paid, officials said. The shake-up will take place after British troops give up their combat role in Afghanistan in 2014.

The Treasury has agreed to bolster the defence budget, with £1.5bn earmarked to help pay for beefed-up reserves and more funding for military equipment.

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My Comment: Britannia certainly does not rule the oceans anymore.

Proficient British Bomb Defusing Expert Gets A Bonus Of Only £20 A Day

Photo: Award: Prince Charles presents the George Medal to Warrant Officer Karl Ley at Buckingham Palace

Just £20 Extra A Day: How Much A Record-Breaking George Medal-Winning Bomb Hero Was Paid To Defuse 140 IEDs In Afghanistan -- The Daily Mail

An Army mines expert who has defused more roadside bombs than anyone else in history was awarded the George Medal yesterday.

Warrant Officer Karl Ley, 30, was paid only £20 extra a day for clearing 139 Taliban bombs during six months in Afghanistan.

He made safe twice as many improvised explosive devices as any other bomb-disposal expert, including 42 in one village in only 72 hours as insurgent gunshots and mortars landed less than 100ft away.

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My Comment: I doubt that he was working only for the money.

Harrier Jet Farewell Event. RAF Cottesmore 2010. (Video)

My Comment: A sad day for the British air force.

The End Of An Era: The Last Flight Of The British Harrier Jet

Final salute: The 16-strong fleet of distinctive Harrier jump jets in close formation above RAF Cottesmore

Last Hurrah For The Harrier: Jump Jets Take To The Skies For Their Final Farewell -- The Daily Mail

Flying in a spectacular diamond formation so tight it ­appears they are ­almost ­touching, 16 of Britain’s legendary jump jets soar through the wintry skies.

The occasion was billed as a celebration but, for many, the mood was as sombre as the gloomy weather.

On a freezing day heavy with ­emotion, the ­Harrier — the ­revolutionary aircraft that helped Britain defeat Argentina in the Falklands War in 1982 — took to the air for the last time.

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More News On The End Of The British Harrier Jet

Last trip for one of Britain's iconic aircraft -- BBC
RAF's Harrier jump jet makes its final flight – 40 years on -- The Guardian
Harrier jets take off on retirement -- Press Association
The Last Sight Of The Harriers in Flight -- The Sun
Final flight, and vertical landing, for the Harrier -- The Independent
UK's Axed Harrier jets take final flight -- AFP

How Britain Is Protecting Its Soldiers In Afghanistan

The 7.5ton Ocelot, partially designed by Formula 1 engineers, has a V-shaped hull to deflect the force of blasts

Revealed, The 7.5 Ton Patrol Cars To Protect Our Troops -- The Daily Mail

The Ministry of Defence yesterday unveiled its state-of-the-art armoured vehicle to replace the ‘death trap’ Land Rovers used by troops in Afghanistan.

The British-designed Ocelot will replace the Snatch Land Rover which has been much criticised for offering little protection against roadside bombs.

Thirty-seven UK servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan have been killed in the lightly-armoured Land Rovers – grimly dubbed ‘ mobi le cof f ins ’ by soldiers.

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My Comment: At 7.5. tons, that is one heavy truck.

Why The RAF Should Not Be Cut -- A Commentary

Spitfires and Hurricanes played a vital role in defeating Nazi Germany Photo: Reuters

We Clip The Wings Of The RAF At ur peril -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph

Planned defence cuts belittle the key role of aerial superiority in modern combat, says Con Coughlin.

The Royal Air Force has come a long way since that grim, overcast morning 70 years ago today, when the first squadron of German bombers flew up the Thames Estuary to launch the Luftwaffe's all-out assault on the British mainland.

By the time 111 and 151 Hurricane squadrons were scrambled from bases around south London to intercept the German attackers, the Dornier bombers had emptied their payloads over Eastchurch airfield, on the north Kent coast, and were already making their return journey across the Channel.

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My Comment: It always comes down to money .... and in Britain's case what little they have left must go somewhere else.

Improper Training And Equipment Is Costing British Soldier's Lives In Afghanistan

Woman Soldier Was 'Unlawfully Killed After Inadequate Training' -- The Independent

Coroner promises to raise concerns about deaths of four British troops with the Ministry of Defence.

The first British woman soldier to be killed in Afghanistan was inadequately trained and lacked vital equipment, a coroner ruled yesterday.

At the end of an inquest into the deaths of Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, and three Territorial Army reservists, the Wiltshire coroner David Masters recorded verdicts of unlawful killing in all four cases and said he would raise concerns with the Ministry of Defence about "theatre-wide" equipment shortages and gaps in training which led to the deaths. The Armed Forces minister, Bill Rammell, admitted the "training provided ... could have been better".

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My Comment: When the Afghan war is finally over .... and one day it will be over .... there will be a period of accountability for the decisions and actions done by the politicians/ministers and officers in charge for this war. Unfortunately .... when that day finally comes will be the day that most people will probably not care about it.

The Sad State Of Britain's Helicopter Fleet (Or Lack Of) In Afghanistan

Begging a lift: A borrowed Mi-8 in Afghanistan

Now We Are Borrowing Russian Helicopters To Fight The Taliban -- The Daily Mail

British frontline troops in Afghanistan are so short of helicopters and transport planes that they are being bailed out by the Russians.

The Mail on Sunday has established that the Ministry of Defence is using civilian Russian-built Mi-8 and Mi-26 transport helicopters to ferry supplies and soldiers in Afghanistan. The pilots are freelance Russians and Ukrainians.

Britain is also hiring massive commercial Russian Antonov aircraft to fly vehicles and heavy equipment from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to Afghanistan.

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My Comment: Another example of failure within the British military/political establishment.