Our old friends the mighty British :biggrin2:
SECOND DEFENCE
Britain had to let France take lead in Syria strikes after cuts left us with NO ships that can fire missiles and ageing fighter jets
Britain was out-muscled in the Syria bombing as the Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan was unable to fire cruise missiles
By Holly Christodoulou
16th April 2018, 10:33 am
Updated: 16th April 2018, 2:25 pm
BRITAIN had to play second fiddle to France in the Syria airstrikes after budget cuts left us with a "depressing" array of ageing jets and ships unable to fire missiles.
The UK blasted Syria with eight Storm Shadow missiles from RAF jets in a blitz on chemical factories that saw 105 missiles fired in total.
PA GRAPHICS
4
This picture shows fire power used in the Syrian airstrikes
Get the best Sun stories with our daily Sun10 newsletter
Your information will be used in accordance with our
privacy policy
But the Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan was unable to fire cruise missiles and was out-muscled by France's The Languedoc.
The £1 billion ship has a space on deck for a cruise missile launcher but it was scrapped to save cash, according to reports.
Instead, it was stationed as an "air defence" ship in South East Cyprus to protect against any threat against RAF Akrotiri from Moscow as four French warships sailed into the attack zone.
It means Britain's only way of hitting its target in the joint US, France and UK strikes was to use four Tornado GR4 jets that will be retired next year after 40 years of service.
GETTY IMAGES
4
Destroyer HMS Duncan was unable to fire cruise missils so had to play second fiddle
4
Skies over Damascus lit up by missile fire as a US, UK, France coalition launch revenge strikes in Syria
They were protected by four Typhoons, which can't fire cruise missiles due to an integration programme being axed over financial reasons.
France meanwhile sent its fast Rafale jets to fire Scalp missiles into Syria while protected by a squadron of Mirage 2000s armed with air-to-air missiles.
But the UK did provide the majority of intelligence, maps and surveillance images needed for the bombing on Saturday.
And it also scrambled a top secret 'Rivet Joint' spy plane to jam Bashar al-Assad's missile defence systems.
AFP OR LICENSORS
4
A Syrian solider takes a picture of the wreckage and surveys the damage after the missile blast
A military source told
The Times the lack of Britain's fire power was "pretty depressing".
They said: "We need to brace ourselves for the fact that President Macron is trying to be the go-to guy.
"He wants to have a strong relationship with the United States and we have not woken up to that.
"If they are trying to muscle in and they are determined about it and they end up firing more missiles, these things sort of count. They do actually count."
The strike saw the RAF join US and French forces in unleashing a
blitz on evil Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons capabilities after a
poison gas attack that killed at least 75 people last week.
The three nations launched more than
100 airstrikes in a "one-time shot", with the US firing 59 Tomahawk missiles.