Alg

Missiles, kill 'em.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/missiles-st...183046767.html

Counselling, bless 'em.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...unselling.html

ramdor

iTrader: (2)

as far as the counselling goes, the country has gone to hell in a handbasket, and is getting worse by the day

dpb

Jobs for the boys

The Zohan

The biggest, most high profile sporting event in the last 4 years is taking place in a country where radicals/terrorists have declared a holy war against, not only that but other participants from countries they also have a beef with - Are you really surprised that such measures are being taken??? Would you be more comfortable with a bobby waving a truncheon and holding a megaphone shouting some very harsh words at any would be terrorists.

I am guessing that if there was an attack you would be one of the first to cry "why wasn't there precautionary measures/steps put in place to prevent terrorist attacks..."



as for the counselling - in this instance the phrase 'Man-up!' springs to mind!

DonNedly

iTrader: (10)

from the comments,

"When fear of terrorism turns your country into a militarised police state, who needs terrorists."

DYK

Olympic opening lets launch a few missiles ,er i thought it was part of the ceremony.

The Zohan

'Militarised police state',really, dramatic bollox! temporary measures to guard against threats, nothing more, nothing less...

Leslie

If the government did nothing to deter terrorist attack and consequently people got killed, what would be your response then?

Les

DonNedly

iTrader: (10)

When the IRA were actually blowing things up (as opposed to now where we only have the apparent constant threat of terrorism) we didn't have missile stations on blocks of flats.

Alg

I'm hoping there are several levels of preventative measures in place to stop it from getting to the point where something needs to be shot out of the sky and as a defence against your standard drive-up/walk-up suicide bomber surely a missile is pretty much useless.
I reckon there'll be more trouble during the Olympic torch relay than the actual Games.

dpb

So what happened in China , somebody nicked the flame off the girl for a couple minutes ?

Why the police in particular should receive such coddling im not at all sure

The Zohan

and if something does slip through...would you rather there was the capability to deal with it or the government said "sorry, we decided not to place A2A missiles as we did not want to offend peoples sensibilities!"

You cannot have it both ways, do you think the Chinese didn't have measures in place, but in their 'militarised state' it is unlikely they wrote to the residents first



Mountain out of a molehill thread!

ScoobyWon't

I don't know why the residents of the block of flats, which will have missiles on the roof, are complaining.

After all, if it has a bunch of army and police staff there 24/7, it's going to be he safest place in London to live!

judgejules

lol aye and missile/target debris never falls on the launch site, they are safe as houses, I mean, er, flats

urban

iTrader: (1)

Yeah,but they weren't flying planes into buildings

oliVeR6

The only thing I'd worry about is the fact that its all over the media as to where these are going to be stationed... Surely if an arial terrorist attack is being planned then step one of their plan will be to take out the missiles meaning these guys homes will be destroyed lol!

Leslie

Would it surprise you to know that the missiles are only for shooting at attacking aircraft and that the IRA did not have any of those!

Les

Leslie

Gosh thats clever of you!

The missiles are intended as a deterrent to attack by aircraft and if they had to be used in anger the aircraft which were shot down would have caused far greater damage and many more deaths if they had reached their targets.

Les

judgejules

Gosh thats clever of you!

tony de wonderful

They are surely useless Les. The stadium isn't that far from the the heathrow flight path. These aircraft move fast. By the time a rogue plane had been identified, someone dillies and dallies to phone someone in charge, they get authorisation to shoot it down, it will be too late. It's just retarded PR like most of our security.

Alg

Shushhhhhhhh. They'll hear you.

Alg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEXNJ...eature=related

Leslie

I am impressed that you think so, but I have to be honest and say it used to be part of my job!

Les

Leslie

Not the full story Tony. An attacking aircraft would have been identified as such well in advance and those missiles do not hang about! The SAM's are very effective and would have a "bead" on the attacker pretty early on and it would be destroyed in sufficient time.

Les

tony de wonderful

How do you know it would be identified early on? It is possible a plane is hijacked on route to Heathrow and gives the appearance of either being normal or doesn't respond. Shooting down a heavy passenger jet is no laughing matter. I am sure they have some rules of engagement but I would expect them to be very conservative and not 'shoot from the hip'.

A suspected hijacked jet has never been shot down by SAM's before. It seems it is more normal to sent up fast jets to get a visual on the cockpit as a matter of course.

Leslie

You are right of course that to shoot down a passenger aircraft would be the most difficult decision to make. You can be sure however that a hijacked aircraft approaching Heathrow would be identified as such by its style of operation, use of the R/t, and the route it was following etc. I would expect some form of coding to be used as well. The point is, the military will be paying special attention to all those things since any attempted attack would not come as a surprise-we are even talking about such matters now of course. Having identified an attacker, the SAM's would make short work of it and it would be unlikely to reach its target. The "bumbling" reaction you mention would be a long way from what would actually be happening in such a case.

The SAM's are of course part of the defence force and are very necessary.

Les

Dark

iTrader: (1)

Yes it has! This was disguised as an F-14!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

urban

iTrader: (1)

OK, but surely this plan is flawed.
If they shoot down an aircraft then surely this is a win win situation for the hijackers as the wreckage still falls

tony de wonderful

It wasn't hijacked, nor was it considered to be a passenger jet.

tony de wonderful

Counselling, bless 'em.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...unselling.html[/QUOTE]

I just read that.

What the ****?!