You are reading a single comment by @starfish&coffee and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@starfish&coffee
Someone suggested to me that the deployment of this or that bit of military kit is not so much because we think there is a practical application for them, but more a matter of marketing British made gadgets at the taxpayer's expense.
Britain has a long and proud history of selling arms to just about anyone, and politicians from both parties have been more than helpful when securing arms contracts with dodgy countries. (SaudiArabia+Blair or JohnMajor+Iraq)
The only new thing here really is that following the Arab spring, the orange revolution in Ukraine, the riots in Greece, the Green revolution/riots in Iran etc etc etc, a typical foreign despot will mostly be interested in the kind of military gadgets that will be useful in cities and, more precisely, useful in large crowds.
20 years ago BAE sold Tanzania an air defence systems they had no realistic need for. But the wizened up arms dealer of today understands that military vs civilan gadgets such as that sonic gun, or missile systems that can be fitted on top of residential housing is the stuff that a dictator actually needs.
"We used these during the olympics you know" will be a major selling point for years to come.