Key capabilities fielded by Britain's Royal Air Force in Afghanistan and highly prized across the NATO-led coalition face uncertain futures once the Tornado GR4 aircraft is retired toward the end of the decade. As the RAF looks ahead to a fleet comprising Typhoons and F-35Bs, there are no plans in place to retain two systems that have become invaluable in-theater.

At first glance, not a great deal is remarkable about the black-and-white photograph (below) in which one can see the Queen Mary, portside at Long Beach, Calif. The luxury liner is clearly visible in the large-format image, with a degree of detail showing portholes, lifeboats, balconies and balustrades. Yet the image's exceptional qualities lie in where it was taken: from an aircraft flying at 40,000 ft., 72 nm away.

For suppliers of defense equipment, selling a platform or a subsystem is just the beginning. The importance of what would be called “after-sales service” in the commercial market has increased as the global economic climate has worsened, but in certain sectors it has never really been about just selling a product. This is particularly true of electronic warfare (EW) systems.