Posted on 02/06/2008 2:55:04 PM PST by Leisler
THE Army has run out of machine guns, The Sun can reveal.
The crisis is unlikely to be solved before JUNE, a leaked report reveals.
British troops “desperately” need 400 of the jumbo 0.5in calibre heavy machine guns – the weapon most acutely missed.
The Army has also run out of the 7.62mm GPMG and Minimis.
Supply has collapsed partly because of a dispute with the manufacturers, Manroy – which also provides weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The leaked report – prepared for the Army’s command centre in Wilton, Wilts – reveals that generals have urged the Ministry of Defence “to prevent Manroy delivering Saudi weapons ahead of our requirement”.
Generals asked the US to help but were snubbed by the Pentagon – who have dubbed British colleagues “The Borrowers”.
The report says: “We are trying to get 400 guns transferred from the US. However, the material was provided by US DoD and they are not prepared to release them. MoD-level engagement is needed to try and get these released.”
The crisis is having a crippling effect on training in the UK – with all available spares being rushed to war zones.
Almost HALF the Minimi Light Machine Guns used at Catterick and Brecon are also out of commission.
The report adds: “The original spares package was inadequate and usage has been far above that expected. As a result stocks are very fragile.”
Tory MP and ex-Army officer Patrick Mercer said last night: “Thank God the Army have still got their bayonets – it looks like they may be all they’ll have left. This could have been dealt with months ago.
“Yet again, our fighting men are being imperilled by MoD incompetence.”
Last night an MoD spokeswoman insisted: “We have enough guns for operations.
“We recognised a need to increase overall supply and took steps to address this.”
Doesn't Britain have a history of arming enemies before equiping their own troops?
I know; S.A. is our friend. How do I know? GWBush tells me so.
No, the British are not allowed to have firearms for self defense.
Which is why when needed, they will whine that no one loves them.
Add cops to your “never date” list. They are reported to be impervious to lie detector tests.
Depends on which ally you mean.
The one surreptiously building training camps for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan; or, the one raiding & invading our southern border?
Didn't we give 'sell' all of our 'spares' to Vicente, to give to the drug cartels, to better shoot our Border Patrolmen
Original Message -——
From: Michael M. Dunn
To:
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 12:22 AM
Subject: Note from AFA President — A/C Restrictions and CSAF White Paper
January 16, 2008
AFA members and Congressional Staffers, many of you have commented favorably on the “elevator speech numbers” I sent you.
It’s January ... so here are some revealing data on the “State of the Air Force.”
Fighter Aircraft - average age: 20 years; average flight hours 5400+
Bomber Aircraft - average age: 32 years; average flight hours 11,400+
Tanker aircraft - average age: 44 years; average flight hours 18,900+
C2 Fleet - average age: 22 years old; average flight hours 32,000
ISR Fleet (excluding UAV) - average age: 30 years old; average flight hours 18,000
Key Groundings/Restrictions
F-15A-D - 163 of 441 are grounded for structural issues
B-52 - 6 are grounded - past due PDM grounding date - authorized a one-time flight to the bone-yard.
EC-130 - 2 of 14 are grounded due to center wing box cracks
C-130E - 3 are grounded and 13 are restricted due to Service life and wing cracks
KC-135Es - 26 of 86 are grounded due to engine strut corrosion.
AC-130U - 4 of 17 are restricted due to lack of 30MM weapons
B-2 - entire fleet is restricted due to windshield bolt hole cracks
C-5s - 39 of 108 are restricted due to crown skin restrictions (weight limiting)
Additionally:
219 of 223 F-15Es have training restrictions due to vertical stab structural issues
Majority of Block 25/30/32, block 40/42, and block 50/52 F-16s need structural modifications
All 356 A-10s will need new wings and new aircraft skin - many have landing gear issues ... and all need new engines.
C-130Hs have Center Wing Box issues
C-32As have bulkhead structural issues.
Looking across the FYDP - between 2008-2013 - the Air Force will divest itself of 749 aircraft and procure only 698 aircraft (260 of which are UAVs).
To give you the idea of the scale of all of this:
When the AF grounded its 600+ F-15 fleet, it grounded more aircraft than the entire F/A Navy. The F-15s it presently has grounded equate to a bit more than 3 aircraft carriers of aircraft.
The 356 A-10s that need renovations equates to more aircraft than the fixed wing USMC
The Air Force has about 5800 aircraft ... and presently about one-third are either grounded or restricted in one way or another
The central important part of this data is that this is not a third-world Air Force ... And the question we should ask ourselves, why don’t we fund it to ensure our children and grandchildren are safe and secure?
2nd Subject -
Chief of Staff White Paper - Gen Moseley published an exceptional White Paper ... which lays out the strategic foundations for the Air Force of the future. If you haven’t seen it, you can find it on the AFA website: http://dailyreport.afa.org/NR/rdonlyres/868196FC-AABB-4230-84EA-F5358B0C4B34/0/CSAF_white_paper.pdf
My favorite quotes in it are:
“No modern war has been won without air superiority. No future war will be won without air, space and cyberspace superiority.” Page 2.
“With the oldest inventory in history, battered by 17 years of continuous combat, the Air Force’s ability to fulfill its missions is already being tested.” Page 2
“... our reliance on assured access to space will increase exponentially.” Page 8
“The Air Force is smaller in December 2007 than it was in December 1941.” Page 10
For your consideration.
Mike
Michael M. Dunn, Lt Gen (Ret)
AFA President/CEO
Screw Great Britain. Eventually, New York City will be renamed as New London.
All they need is 400 guns? Heck, for some American citizens that’s a small collection. lol
Given the state things political, immigration, and military in both the UK and the US, the best of us may be emigrating to Australia if it will accept us.
They want us to bail them out again? The last time my Dad was there they complained that they (GIs) were over paid, over sexed and over here!
Dang! That’s a pretty sad ledger.
Sadly, I only have one...and it comes with a ramrod. ;-)
Page six of the November 1940 issue of American Rifleman carried a very important appeal headline: “SEND A GUN TO DEFEND A BRITISH HOME.” It explained: “British civilians, faced with threat of invasion, desperately need arms for defense of their homes. THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF BRITISH HOMES has organized to collect gifts of pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, binoculars from American civilians who wish to answer the call and aid in defense of British homes. The arms are being shipped, with the consent of the British Government, to CIVILIAN COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF HOMES, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.”
And NRA members responded with the donation of thousands of small arms including rifles, shotguns, revolvers and pistols.
http://www.fa-ir.org/ai/second_amend.htm
Incidentally, the NRA’s call to help arm Britain in 1940 resulted in the collection of more than 7,000 firearms for Britain’s defense against potential invasion by Germany (Britain had virtually disarmed itself with a series of gun control laws enacted between World War I and World War II).
http://www.nracentral.com/history.php
I understand that nearly all of those firearms voluntarily sent by private Americans to Britain were destroyed by the UK government after the war. With that track record, why would Americans ever again send their private arms to the British?
what happened to all the wwii enfield marked US property.. were those given back to the US and ended up sold here or did they sell them directly to US distrubuters?
Australia wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so insistent on grabbing guns.
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