daftandbarmy
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Kirkhill said:
The uncomfortable truth, that is.
Kirkhill said:
UK offers Typhoons for Baltic Air Policing Mission
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
The UK has offered to deploy a number of Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft to Lithuania to bolster the NATO-led Baltic Air Policing Mission, a senior government minister announced on 17 March.
Speaking in the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Defence Philip Hammond said that Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoons would be made available to bolster the Polish detachment at Siauliai Air Base from April. Hammond did not disclose numbers, but it is likely that four aircraft would be deployed to match the four MiG-29 'Fulcrum' fighters of the Polish Air Force (while Poland does operate highly capable Lockheed Martin F-16s, the MiG-29 has carried out the Baltic mission on four previous occasions, and will likely do so again).
While the UK has contributed aircraft to the Baltic Air Policing Mission on one other occasion, with Panavia Tornado F.3 fighters in late 2004, this is the first time that it has offered to bolster another nation's detachment.
The offer was made as regional tensions continue to rise following the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian region of Crimea, although Hammond was keen to draw a distinction between the mission in the Baltic states and any Western intervention in Ukraine. "The status of Ukraine is quite different from the status of NATO countries [Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania]. NATO countries enjoy the Article 5 guarantee, which protects and assures their security, [and] we are doing everything we can to reassure our NATO allies about the protection we offer."
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S.M.A. said:From Janes:
daftandbarmy said:A jury at Manchester Crown Court found Crompton, who had 47 previous convictions, guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to 2.
A British sniper in Afghanistan killed six insurgents with a single bullet after hitting the trigger switch of a suicide bomber whose device then exploded, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
The 20-year-old marksman, a lance corporal in the Coldstream Guards, hit his target from 850 metres, killing the suicide bomber and five others around him caught in the blast.
The incident in Kakaran in southern Afghanistan happened in December but has only now been disclosed as Britain moves towards the withdrawal of all combat soldiers by the end of the year.
Lt Col Richard Slack, commanding officer of 9/12 Royal Lancers, said the unnamed sharpshooter prevented a major attack by the Taliban, as a second suicide vest packed with 20 kg of explosives was found nearby.
The same sniper, with his first shot on the tour of duty, killed a Taliban machine-gunner from 1,340 metres.