Gents,
I am a serving Rock Ape, just wanted to throw a topic out there and see what people think.
My gripe concerns the Regt's role as FP 'specialists' and I have to ask, what makes us specialsts? Bear with me... The RAF Regt Field Sqns are good at patrolling a GDA up to Sqn level. We're good at interacting with air ops and trying to manage Op TESSERAL. We can patrol a patch of ground as good as the next unit. We're good soldiers! I suppose the focus of my gripe has to be at Wing Level, i.e the C2 of the Force Protection 'system' the RAF put in place to protect their airfields.
I don't have a gripe about what the Wing does in principle, I just feel that it is being undersold as it dosn't really have the kit to do the job. I havn't been to the COB recently (i was there in 05) but I see the myriad of ISTAR kit available to forces all overthe world e.g RAID (camera on balloon), J-LENS (camera on mast) DESERT HAWK (camera on UAV) (sorry about the egg sucking) to name a few and I think, why doesn't the Wing have this kit along with the specialist troops to employ it? I know its all about money and manpower blah blah blah but with this sort of capability, which the Army, specifically the Royal Artillary, already have, a RAF Regt FP Wing HQ could be transformed from a watchkeeping organisation into a proper, bonefied 'specialist' FP command and control hub, brimming with ISTAR feeds and directing the already stirling work of the Field Sqn under it's command
In short, without the right sort of FP equipment, we will forever be reliant on the Army for ISTAR equipment and we won't be able to do the job properly. Why don't the powers that be fight for some of this kit off the army? For the price of the kit, the training and the manpower, it would certainly enhance the RAF Regt's capablity and may allow us to refer to ourselves as FP 'specialists'.
I hope nobody thinks i'm slagging the Regt, I just want to see us do our job properly. What do y'all think?
I am a serving Rock Ape, just wanted to throw a topic out there and see what people think.
My gripe concerns the Regt's role as FP 'specialists' and I have to ask, what makes us specialsts? Bear with me... The RAF Regt Field Sqns are good at patrolling a GDA up to Sqn level. We're good at interacting with air ops and trying to manage Op TESSERAL. We can patrol a patch of ground as good as the next unit. We're good soldiers! I suppose the focus of my gripe has to be at Wing Level, i.e the C2 of the Force Protection 'system' the RAF put in place to protect their airfields.
I don't have a gripe about what the Wing does in principle, I just feel that it is being undersold as it dosn't really have the kit to do the job. I havn't been to the COB recently (i was there in 05) but I see the myriad of ISTAR kit available to forces all overthe world e.g RAID (camera on balloon), J-LENS (camera on mast) DESERT HAWK (camera on UAV) (sorry about the egg sucking) to name a few and I think, why doesn't the Wing have this kit along with the specialist troops to employ it? I know its all about money and manpower blah blah blah but with this sort of capability, which the Army, specifically the Royal Artillary, already have, a RAF Regt FP Wing HQ could be transformed from a watchkeeping organisation into a proper, bonefied 'specialist' FP command and control hub, brimming with ISTAR feeds and directing the already stirling work of the Field Sqn under it's command
In short, without the right sort of FP equipment, we will forever be reliant on the Army for ISTAR equipment and we won't be able to do the job properly. Why don't the powers that be fight for some of this kit off the army? For the price of the kit, the training and the manpower, it would certainly enhance the RAF Regt's capablity and may allow us to refer to ourselves as FP 'specialists'.
I hope nobody thinks i'm slagging the Regt, I just want to see us do our job properly. What do y'all think?