SACEUR visits Dublin

Larbre34

DF CoS V/Adm Mellett today hosted the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General (4*) Curtis Scaparrotti, US Army, NATOs most senior operational officer as he visited Dublin for meetings at Govt Buildings and McKee Barracks.

According to the CoS twitter feed the visit was "to discuss @defenceforces & @NATO matters of interest. Ongoing collaboration & partnerships under the White Paper on Defence framework were examined in order to #strengthenthenation & #ÓglaighnahÉireann". The General also laid a wreath at the Air Corps memorial in Casement Aerodrome.

Interesting statement and timing given Brexit, wouldn't you say? The issue of air and sea defence in our corner of the Nth Atlantic must be giving various defence brass and mandarins some considerable thought given the geo-political realities of the times. Yes the UK continues on in NATO, but they are going to suffer economic damage limiting their options for investment and the Royal Navy home assets in particular in dire straits with the Type 45s being awful buckets.

Might the Tories get spiteful and pull QRA response back to the island of Britain only? Might the continental members common to the EU and NATO be cooking up something with Ireland involving lease / loan of interceptors with ancillaries and limited interoperability in return for us minding our own back yard? A decent AD radar and some F-16s would be very cost beneficial to our friends.

knucklehead6

Larbre34 wrote: »

DF CoS V/Adm Mellett today hosted the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General (4*) Curtis Scaparrotti, US Army, NATOs most senior operational officer as he visited Dublin for meetings at Govt Buildings and McKee Barracks.

According to the CoS twitter feed the visit was "to discuss @defenceforces & @NATO matters of interest. Ongoing collaboration & partnerships under the White Paper on Defence framework were examined in order to #strengthenthenation & #ÓglaighnahÉireann". The General also laid a wreath at the Air Corps memorial in Casement Aerodrome.

Interesting statement and timing given Brexit, wouldn't you say? The issue of air and sea defence in our corner of the Nth Atlantic must be giving various defence brass and mandarins some considerable thought given the geo-political realities of the times. Yes the UK continues on in NATO, but they are going to suffer economic damage limiting their options for investment and the Royal Navy home assets in particular in dire straits with the Type 45s being awful buckets.

Might the Tories get spiteful and pull QRA response back to the island of Britain only? Might the continental members common to the EU and NATO be cooking up something with Ireland involving lease / loan of interceptors with ancillaries and limited interoperability in return for us minding our own back yard? A decent AD radar and some F-16s would be very cost beneficial to our friends.

The likes of the gob****es involved in Roscommon would have a conniption fit. It'd be worth it for that alone, but unfortunately it won't fly

Manach

While free / low cost rental of items such as an F16 would be interesting, the logistical and technical support issues associated with that type of weapon system would be costly.