UK’s ASTOR Sentinel R1 (Image from Defense Industry Daily)Life-Saving Sentinel R1 Spy Planes Grounded By Lack Of Crews -- Times Online
A NEW billion-pound fleet of spy planes able to spot the roadside bombs that kill troops in Afghanistan will be out of action until at least the middle of next year because the RAF has failed to train enough crew.
Two Sentinel R1 aircraft were deployed to a Gulf base at the end of last year to fly over Afghanistan, conducting trials with their stand-off radar (Astor). The aircraft had an immediate impact — commanders were delighted by its ability to provide high-definition video footage of an area 200 miles long and 200 miles wide, day or night.
Astor can detect any movement and even record the speed of a car from more than 200 miles away in almost any weather. It flies seven miles up, far out of sight of guerrillas.
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My Comment: The Americans will bring in their own predators and surveillance craft this year to make up what the Brits lack .... but it must be infuriating for the Brits to spend billions .... and to then have these vehicles grounded because of a lack of manpower. This is a classic case of poor leadership thinking from the top.