Hi David,
Well the new Tornado GR4 still does have one cannon - the other has been deleted to make room for electronics kit (as it happens the Tornado GR1a (the recce version) had one removed anyway to make room for sideways-looking imaging radar - an amazing piece of kit that identified more Scuds during the last Gulf War than all the Spec forces and recce sattellites put together - and the Tornado F3 (the air defence version) has always had only the one cannon. You are right though - the bean-counters were going to delete the cannon for cost reasons!
It's still actually up in the air as to whether the new Typhoon FGA1 will have a cannon or not, by the way - bean-counters again! I'm told that the RAF/RN version of the Joint Strike Fighter will also be sans cannon - I don't know whether the USAF/USN version will have one (the F117A doesn't, after all).
Interesting you should mention the Falklands example - it was of course the Nott Review (a notorious outbreak of bean-counting) that restricted the fitments of Sea Wolf, Phalanx and Goalkeeper to RN ships, which would have greatly reduced the chances of successful Exocet attacks, thereby resulting directly in the deaths of dozens of sailors. I doubt Sir John Nott had a single decent night's sleep after the Falklands...
Yes, the RM sank a frigate with a Carl Gustav 84mm shoulder-fired recoilless rifle! They also nailed an Argentin Puma helicopter with one... and an LVTP-7 carrier.
As to the Jaguar GR3s, I couldn't say for certain, but I believe they are stuck in Turkey, where they have been for some years on No-Fly-Zone duties - I assume that they are still prevented from joining the campaign due to Turkish intransigence? I'm afraid I don't know much about the Aussie F18s - I know they're geared up for ground-attack, but I don't think they're on dedicated CAS duties.
Cheers,
Mark
PS Another little rant on bean-counting: the most notorious waste of money in the RAF at the moment is the continued development of the Airbus transport aircraft (A400M is it? I forget). Not only has the MoD committed itself to buying the damn thing, though it only exists on paper and 'Airfix' form, but it fails its primary design requirement, which was to be able to carry the Warrior IFV to areas where it would be needed for peacekeeping, etc in the New World Order. The Airbus carries your standard, factory-fresh Warrior, but the Army has added tons and tons of applique armour since then, which has increased the width, length and weight of the Warrior so much that the Airbus cannot accommodate it without completely redesigning a new aircraft! In the meantime, the RAF already has an aircraft - the Boeing C17 Globemaster - that it loves, is proven, is larger, faster, cheaper and basically better all-round than the Airbus 'paper aeroplane'. Yet, these are only on lease and will be handed back to the USAF once the Airbus arrives. It's all about British jobs and the Holy Grail of 'European Unity' - it has nothing at all to do with enabling the RAF to do its job better.
Right, I'll stop waffling now!
