One the subject of Police in the UK being armed, I’ve often asked the question myself.

But it’s worth mentioning that even though most French Police are armed, they weren’t able to stop this attack. Unless the Police happen to be present at an attack, even a response time measured in a couple of minutes is ample time for terrorists to inflict huge casualties.

On another subject, if IS are so keen to be a state, then maybe now is the time to recognise them – because that would almost certainly fall under the purview of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. If they want a fight I say lets give it to them.

Venezuela Allocates $480 Million to Import 12 Su-30MK2 Fighters from Russia

I’d be shocked if this one comes off. With the price of oil like it is the country is on the fast track to bankruptcy. They can’t even afford to supply themselves with adequate quantities of toilet paper.

I think even a cursory analysis of the US system would be an indictment of it.

They spend spend twice as much per capita for no demonstrable improvement in healthcare outcomes.

The largest cause of bankruptcy in the USA is medical bills.

MOST of these bankruptcies are from people that HAVE health insurance.

Large excess payments can leave people thousands of dollars out of pocket for their healthcare, even with insurance.

If you insurance is tied to your job (as it often is in the US) then your employer has even more power over the average worker, leaving them more vulnerable to exploitation. It also means that losing your job also means you lose affordable healthcare – not a good combination.

The NHS is far from perfect, and maybe the NHS using some private provision could work, but it’s something I think we should guard jealously.

Interesting, Kuwait is mulling over the Eurofighter, offered by Italy. Why not from the UK or Germany?

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/air-force/2015/06/04/kuwait-eurofighter-italy-talks-alenia-aermacchi-rafale-egypt-qatar/28494435/

I’m pretty sure the consortium put specific agreements in place about which nations/companies in the group would have sales rights to other countries/regions.

China to Deliver 50 More JF-17 Thunder Jets to Pakistan

I thought the PAF made/assembled their JF-17s locally?

Interesting news indeed. I did think the USAF might be tempted to write the requirements around a US design, but this does play into BAE/Northrop’s hands.

That said, didn’t BAE lose out in Poland partly down to costs?

Seems to me it’s all about when the SDSR is – if it’s finished before the election it’s worthless. Even after they will inevitably be excuses about half of it being done under the previous administration.

Cynical as I may be, I think the best chance the armed forces have to actually be taken seriously is for Russia and Ukraine to kick off again. Until then it’s going to be ‘we’ll do more with less’, every single time.

I may be mistaken, but IIRC the Hawk T.2 isn’t actually kitted out for carrying any weapons.