Those surface to air missile launchers in London.

I think it is more against private planes or helicopters than a commercial airline. Although I believe there will be a no fly zone for private crafts as well, so absolutely useless imo

I'm no ack ack expert, but surely a no fly zone means nothing if you don't have a way of enforcing it?

of course, but with a commercial airline they would realise it has been highjacked long before and would scramble the airforce. While with private crafts they would probably have less time.

munch man
14 Jul 12 15:25   
Are they just some sort of empty gesture do you think?  A show of strength or something? In my opinion there are no circumstances whatsoever in which any of them would be used.

The implication is that they would be used to shoot down a hijacked aircraft, but I cannot imagine that being authorised over London.

For London  - read east London

For east London  - read Newham

the biggest sh^thole in all 30 Boroughs

If it has to be shot down, Newham is where it will come down (nap)

And all the while they are watching the Olympic Stadium, Canary Wharf Tower remains the easiest target to hit with a plane in the east end

The Magic Flea     14 Jul 12 15:39 
of course, but with a commercial airline they would realise it has been highjacked long before and would scramble the airforce. While with private crafts they would probably have less time.


erm isn't thast a reason for having them then?

not really, depending how large the no fly zone for private aircraft is

Do we not need police because crime is illegal?

Even if, God forbid, a passenger aircraft is hijacked I don't think the order would be given to shoot it down over London.

I could see fighter jets opening fire upon it somewhere else, over water or the countryside perhaps, but not over the city.

Hence I believe those launchers in London are just for some sort of show.

Hopefully they will turn out to be just for show.

Dunno much about raf planes, but at what point do the hijackers play their cards, presumably not as soon as the flight takes off.

What about if an genuine airline pilot was a secret terrorist!!!

As most of you say - smoke and mirrors, empty gesture and pointless.

FYI munchman - my elder daughter is part of a team that monitors ALL aircrew that fly in and out of the UK to, hopefully, avoid such an issue. It's happening year-in, year-out continuously.

i think there are circumstances where they would shoot down a commercial plane, but it walk take some extremely ballsy and quick decision making. consider a stadium may have 40K people in it, possibly some 'important' heads of state etc....

it's the unthinkable but they have to prepare for all outcomes...hence the missiles being deployed.

A couple of scenarios  spring to mind,
terrorists take over SAM's and take out a Jumbo,
someone presses the wrong button and takes out the block of flats.

These missiles have a max range of four miles.

They are useless in poor visibility, as the operator has to be able to see the target, because they are laser guided!

Then they cannot be deployed unless permission is granted "at the highest level"!

So imagine the call...

This is unit "oxoxo 100% bonkers"...can you put David on please?

Brief silence and then "I'm sorry he's on the toilet"!

mmmm...4 miles

they could take out the House of Commons with a bit of wind assistance

From a thread on the politics forum

Randle
15 Jul 12 00:38   
I went to the Olympic park today. It was an Orwellian nightmare!

you can't get anywhere near the stadium as a huge army perimeter has been established. It can only be glimpsed at it in the distance.  You wouldn't think it was a sports venue at the moment more like an army base.

without going all conspiracy theorist (although I am one)

isn't this more to do with the continuing efforts to scare the civilian population more than detering actual terrorists? I mean if I was going to crash a plane it would not worry me  if I got shot down

judorick
15 Jul 12 01:37   
I mean if I was going to crash a plane it would not worry me  if I got shot down

Which is virtually what I  posted on another thread like this

I thought the point was that the plane could be shot down before it crashed into a stadium holding 80000 people., thus saving tens of thousands of lives.  Even if a jumbo jet crashed into a residential area of London what would be the expected death toll?   A thousand?

twomatchpoints..... funny that you should mention The Houses of Parliament, as I have been thinking how drastic it would be if that building was destroyed, whilst everyone was concentrating on the wrong target!

Either that or Canary Wharf Tower, which is an open target coming up the Thames Estuary from the east

This shot is from the A1020, on the bridge across the docks, the tower is in the centre of the picture

.
http://i47.tinypic.com/25jl648.jpg


This shot is from the A117, on the bridge across the docks further east, the tower is in the red area, it can't be seen clearly as the Sun made the image too hazy

.
http://i48.tinypic.com/2d7afd4.jpg


A clear target - with other tall building around it

Ar there any missiles on these buildings ?

No, not that the public know about anyway, and you couldn't exactly sneak them up on to the rooves

Mrs TMP is in London this morning. She dropped her friend at Custom House DLR Station, which is less than half a mile away from the first image. There are parking restrictions everywhere, and this is a good 3 miles from the Olympic Stadium.

I wonder if the terrorists are planning to nick a plane from London City Airport, which sits in between those two images. 

More useless trivia
H.M.S Belfast, moored at Tower Bridge, has her guns facing in a roughly north west direction. If they were fired, they would demolish Scratchwood Services, which in itself is not a bad idea.

rob_dylan
15 Jul 12 06:58   
I thought the point was that the plane could be shot down before it crashed into a stadium holding 80000 people., thus saving tens of thousands of lives.  Even if a jumbo jet crashed into a residential area of London what would be the expected death toll?   A thousand?

It won't happen over Newham - FACT

if it did there would be hundreeds, if not thousands, of racism cases

'Why didn't you shoot it down over a predominantly white area ?' 

Don't worry,G4S will sort it out.

Btw,will anyone attempting to take a can of Pepsi into the arena have it confiscated?

or chips

Military Aircraft and Helicopters will police an exclusion zone, with intruders being challenged and destroyed if failing to comply with instructions.However, surface to air are extremely handy for microlights,drones etc.

Mi Pertner hive big massile, it bag and brawn

tt OP found

This is munch man, a good poster and sadly missed as there aren't many of us left.

It's not munch.

good to see munch man back!

Indeed! He was one of the few who didn't join the 2010 whingers, some are still at it

... and easy to spot Glimmer using one of his many monikers!