Enablers and Disablers

In recent discussions regarding swarm boat attacks, every solution discussed in defeating the swarm included maritime surveillance aircraft of some time.

In that context, is this effective cooperative security strategy or an example of a dependency that exposes a strategic vulnerability? The question is rhetorical, and the answer isn't zero sum.

HMS Liverpool, mine hunter HMS Brocklesby and nuclear submarine HMS Triumph have been watched by a US Navy P-3 Orion which has made regular sweeps of the Libyan coastline looking for potential threats.

The Ministry of Defence said that Nato assets and aircraft are shared as a matter of course.

A spokesman said: “The Americans do have a lot of kit and that’s why we are in alliance with them. We don’t have airborne maritime surveillance but the Americans don’t have mine sweepers. It’s not just the Americans that pool their assets - it is the whole Nato alliance.”

The Nimrods were scrapped in the Strategic Defence and Security Review which took place last October. The aircraft are used to spot underwater threats.