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RAF urged to cut ‘Cold War’ new jets for cheap propeller aircraft
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The RAF is under pressure to cut its multibillion-pound orders for fast jets
in favour of cheaper propeller aircraft as part of a review of defence
spending. -
General Richards, Chief of the General Staff, believes that the Super Tucano
offers a cost-effective alternative to fast jets such as the Cold War-era
Eurofighter Typhoon in counter-insurgency operations such as those in
Afghanistan. -
General Richards has argued that state-on-state confrontations will be largely
replaced by counter-insurgency operations in the future, making huge savings
possible if the Government is prepared to sacrifice ships and tanks for
lighter and cheaper but technically advanced matériel. -
Richard North, a defence analyst and
another advocate of the aircraft, said: “The right kit for the sort of wars
we are fighting today is a lot cheaper than the high-end kit.†-
Andrew Brookes, aerospace analyst at the International Institute for Strategic
Studies, said: “I think that General Richards has been led astray by people
who think that because it is cheap and cheerful it is the answer to the
maiden’s prayer. In a Joint Strike Fighter you have a stealthy, magnificent
intelligence-gathering platform. No one will see it coming and it could go
to downtown Tehran, Pyongyang or maybe even Moscow tomorrow. You can say you
would get a lot of Tucanos cheaply but the money for Typhoon and JSF has
already been spent and they can be used for the whole spectrum of
operations.†-
One defence source told The Times: “We neither need, nor can afford the
‘deep persistent operating capability’ associated with attacking stealthily
the most heavily defended airspace on Earth. Something like Tucano does the
job for irregular warfare [of the future] and is effective and
cost-efficient.â€
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