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daniel_22sss t1_j9vvhaq wrote

Reply to comment by knobber_jobbler in Boris Johnson calls on UK to 'break the ice' by sending fighter jets to Ukraine - and warns China against 'historic mistake' by R1ckCrypto

Honestly, if I would take all of these claims on face value, it would sound like NATO and USA don't have anything working that could be sent, and god knows how these militaries even exist. UK "doesn't have anything", France "doesn't have anything", Germany "doesn't have anything", USA for some reason can only give 20 HIMARS and 31 Abrams... Nobody has enough artillery and ammo for it... Its like, geez guys. What even is NATO military? In the first Gulf War all of you had so much stuff, and now it feels like nobody has anything and Ukraine is getting last scraps.

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knobber_jobbler t1_j9vztwi wrote

In 1991 the cold war had just ended. The UK was still fielding jets built in the 50s. It has Buccaneers, Phantoms, Jaguars, Tornados etc. Today the RAF is quite literally bare bones. If you've read various defence journals over the last decade you'll have seen the Harrier force cut to free up cash for Tornado. Tornado scrapped for a Eurofighter upgrade. F35 numbers slashed etc. Typhoons were being stripped for parts to keep others flying etc. Tranche 1 is to be scrapped after only 20 years of service and not upgraded. 20 years is nothing for a jet that has a considerable service life. The UK quite literally has no jets to give away. It's not like you can just give away modern, complicated hardware anyway as it needs a complete support and logistics service. It's not as simple as sending over some tanks made in the 60s where all you need is some ammunition and an instruction manual that hasn't changed in principle since the 30s.

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