EU Referendum


Defence: an expensive waste


01/10/2014



000a Guardian-030 Isis.jpg

Bombing has not been decisive in any recent conflict, writes Richard Norton-Taylor in the Guardian. Far from it. It has been counterproductive and an expensive waste.

In the past, pilots have quickly run out of targets. It will be even more difficult now, as RAF Tornado crews have already discovered, to find them as they continue to search for Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq now.

The RAF Tornados, based in Britain's base at Akrotiri in Cyprus, can fire radar-guided anti-armour Brimstone missiles, which are conservatively estimated to cost £100,000 each; heavier Paveway IV bombs, estimated at £30,000 apiece; and long-range Storm Shadow missiles, estimated at nearly £790,000 each.

Actually the Storm Shadows cost over £1 million, but apart from that, Norton-Taylor is spot on. We see the pics and the first strike knocks out a pick-up truck and a machine gun.

The fuel bill almost certainly cost more than the targets, and the Brimstone, at a cool £100,000 makes a mockery of the entire concept of cost-effectiveness. We can't do war this way – the IS can trade their lives for our wealth and beat us every time.

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