£1bn 'spy jets' join RAF squadron

Just saw this in the BBC News

"Spy planes" that could help detect roadside bombs from seven-and-a-half miles above the ground have just entered squadron service after successful trials in Afghanistan. How effective would they be in fighting the Taleban and saving lives?

At almost £1bn for five, the Sentinel R1 jet does not come cheap, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) hopes its latest "eye in the sky" will have a real impact.

The twin-engined plane carries some of the world's most sophisticated radar equipment, allowing it to detect and track enemy movement over huge areas.




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Peace.....

If it can detect roadside bombs and save lives, then I think it has already paid for itself. It looks like quite a nice aircraft too, but I imagine it would be expensive if the front undercarriage ever decided not to come down.

Originally posted by Rock Ape
How effective would they be in fighting the Taleban and saving lives?

It's another ISR asset in theater that will be operating over the AOR, a much needed capability in Afghanistan. CAS sorties in Afghanistan are roughly adequate however ISR assets and sorties are not. We need persistent coverage of ground activity and this is what such an aircraft allows you to do. And what they mean is that it can detect the party which is setting up the roadside bomb, from there it can assign assets to persecute with extreme prejudice.

They're quite funky looking birds aren't they?

Its funny, but when they were developing the cancelled Nimrod AWACS, the problem they had was the radar was too sensitive and picked up all kinds of stuff on the ground.

20 years later we've just bought a plane that can see all kinds of stuff on the ground

(I know, I know....its different, but there is a certain irony to it!)