It goes back to the issue of why have the army if akk it does is clean up after (or hopefully during) other peoples wars, when there is no domestic threat to security for the last 7 years I've had to listen to people arguing that the army should be disbanded and we could never defend oursleves since we were neutral (never understood how that logic worked), the simple answer I give most of the time is this try disbanding the army/ DF and see how fast the threats rack up. (incidentally there should be a special forum set up to arm people like us for these arguments on ICUN's board in the near future).
Aidan I'd expect yoou of all people to understand the importance of a symbolic air defence, it means simply that Ireland is willing to defend it's airspace and to restrict it's use by others...it puts a very firm stop to people who might wish to manipulate loopholes to their advantage (and thats more than just military threats you're heading off), also the question of heading off an air campaign against the state, think of how few countries could muster that sort of force projection, a squadron of reasonably capable fighter types that are enough to stand a chane against improvised or low capability aircraft (such as might be made stolen in the event of a NI meltdown scenario) or tackle on any stragglers who got through other countries air defences would be of practical value.
Aidan I'd expect yoou of all people to understand the importance of a symbolic air defence, it means simply that Ireland is willing to defend it's airspace and to restrict it's use by others...it puts a very firm stop to people who might wish to manipulate loopholes to their advantage (and thats more than just military threats you're heading off), also the question of heading off an air campaign against the state, think of how few countries could muster that sort of force projection, a squadron of reasonably capable fighter types that are enough to stand a chane against improvised or low capability aircraft (such as might be made stolen in the event of a NI meltdown scenario) or tackle on any stragglers who got through other countries air defences would be of practical value.
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