LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2021) The British Royal Air Force may revert to Cold War-era tactics, including dispersing fighter jets from their bases to civilian airfields, to counter alleged Russian missile threat, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston told The Telegraph.
"We'll be re-learning how to disperse... But instead of two bases, if all my Typhoons [fighter jets] were on 12 bases, that's a harder target... We should look at this as a national challenge and look at the wealth of airstrips we have in the UK... It sounds a bit Cold War-ey, but we have a pressing requirement to remember how to do it," Wigston said.
Russia's new missile and air defense systems as well as its willingness to use force prompted the country to include the training of Cold War practices in the multi-year Agile Stance exercises, whose launch is planned for 2022, the air chief added.
If Russia moves its arsenal of cutting-edge cruise missiles to Kaliningrad, this would be a "step up the ladder of escalation," as the UK infrastructure would be within their reach, according to Wigston.
The UK, he went on, needs to invest in air defense systems, as the country has not "kept pace" due to "our strategic circumstances and the fact we were operating under a US umbrella."
