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    Ireland moves to block court on secret UK ‘air defence’ deal
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    Ireland moves to block court on secret UK ‘air defence’ deal


    Ireland moves to block court on secret UK ‘air defence’ deal

    https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/ireland-moves-to-block-court-on-secret-uk-air-defence-deal/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1RSG4NFF3-jbooKdrFapyIWEd5U0T0UBDy_c7lhAA1rsRYeQ3EUuMV3N4_aem_wMslMCO-_WJSMbdAvILFuA&ai=

    Posted by threebodysolution

    View 11 Comments

    11 Comments

    1. Elbon on

      pssst, it’s not much of a secret if you’re reporting on it and everyone knowing the RAF was covering our airspace for since ever.

    4. Mik3y_uk on

      I don’t know why this is such a big deal to people. Ireland is getting free military protection.

    7. stevewithcats on

      A) It’s not secret anymore, but some details are kept to maintain operational security, so it remains an effective arrangement.

      B) if we want to pay for a full squadron of 4.5 generation multi role aircraft , weapons, hangers , spares, training system, fuel, new airfield (as casement won’t work for aircraft with afterburners launching at 3am)
      We will all be getting a hearty income tax increase to cover all this .

      I’d love us to have an increased air policing capability, but it is insanely expensive and if another country does the intercepts of Russian long range aviation flying along the UKGIAP .

      As it’s only intercepts , no one is invading us.

    10. BigDrummerGorilla on

      I mean as a former reservist myself, I say this all the time….being a small, neutral country is exactly why we should have the ability to defend ourselves. Finland, Switzerland, Sweden and Switzerland are a group of traditionally neutral countries, some only up to recent times. All of their militaries are well resourced in the belief that to be truly neutral, you have to be able to defend it. Meanwhile, the Irish courts are about to hear a case that may well reveal that the Irish government has failed in its obligations to enforce Irish sovereignty and outsourced air defence to a foreign power, which is the antithesis of neutrality. That same foreign power intercepted a submarine just sitting outside the territorial waters off Cork harbour just months ago.

      The air is as important to Ireland as any other country, if not more so. We control amongst the busiest airspace in Europe, yet we are the only country trying to in Europe without a primary radar system and one of the few without intercept capabilities. Two interceptors is not an adequate numbers for jets needed on QRA, training, failures, fuelling, multiple threats, or to cover those under maintenance. CASA aircraft will cover much more ground in our exclusive economic area. The recent drug interdiction mission of Cork came so close to failure due to a lack of air assets it’s not even funny.

      We only have one naval ship capable of going to sea. Within recent months, three European countries pursued a Russian submarine off our west coast. Russian submarines are known to be scouting undersea communications in the area. We should be making a contribution to defending those cables, even if it is a token one. The fact that our economy is completely reliant on them and three nations responded to the submarine says it all. We didn’t contribute one iota, we only have one serviceable ship at the minute and no detection capabilities.

      No superpower is going to invade us. There is the Atlantic on one side of us, the other side is Europe. The Baltics are effectively a NATO controlled lake. Ireland no longer holds a strategic position either. But outside aggression does not even need to come from a hostile state actor, it can come from non-state actors or even something completely different. During COVID, when the Defence Forces were asked how many field hospitals they could provide in the event they are needed, the answer was “zero”.

      Take it from an ex-reservist, our military is not crumbling, but has crumbled. The well published drug interdiction mission by the Rangers off Cork recently only underscores that. The entire Defence Forces only had one working helicopter that had to be pulled from air ambulance services. There was no other helicopter to provide overwatch or backup if there was a failure. The CASA aircraft above had its mission computers fail in the middle of the mission.

      For a wealthy, allegedly “neutral” country, this is an exceptionally poor showing. The government budget is €110 billion this year, €3 billion is nothing and could contribute to our economy if defence industry developed here. €3 billion also happens to be the figure the recent independent commission on the future of the defence forces said we should aim towards.

      People can go on about Ireland only needing equipment to contribute to peacekeeping. Those people should lookup the level of equipment required for such a task and the circumstances which led to the Irish Army purchasing MILAN anti-tank missiles.

    11. Augustus_Chavismo on

      Can’t be paying for our own air defence now. That tax money needs to be funnelled into private hands.