The UK is a country of only 60 million or so souls and has long punched above it's weight in international affairs even with the disappearance of it's empire. They cannot afford to keep up their spending the way they have and their armed forces are taking some cuts. They are no longer the guarantor of keeping the seas free and have not been for a long time, even if they doubled their defence budget they would still only have a fraction of the forces the US has. It's the real world, not a yellow brick road or gold-paved street. Fortunately for the Brits their current leadership seems to have a good grasp of that reality.
Flash to come bring everyone back to the real world. Personally I'm not going to shed a tear for their defense woes.
If there are any tears to be shed, it should be for what we will experience ourselves in a few short years, budgetwise. And don't think that the coming (and welcome) Red November tidal wave will save us from that fate!!!
That's not what I'm talking about and I'm not at all doubting that they need to make cuts. Previous posts of mine expressed my surprise at the limited nature of the cuts the Brits were making. The British will lose influence without those naval assets, regardless of the perspective you look at it from. I am curious, however, as to what differences you perceive in our own situation vice the British one--can we afford to keep up the spending the way we have been? helolumpy, will we always be willing or able to keep all the SLOCS open? Personally, I do not see any possibility of a strong and vibrant USN in the year 2025 or so without some drastic, even radical, change in leadership (civilian/Congressional). I will shed a tear for our own defense woes in the mid-future.
To answer you question, I ask you to consider the capture of the Maersk Alabama. Did that issue really require the amount of attention that it received? Why did an Adminstration that was not exactly chomping at the bit to take on more "overseas contingency operations' stand up a JTF for counterpiracy ops? We never stood up a counterpiracy force in the Strait of Malaca and piracy has been going on far longer and that Strait (SOM) is a far more important waterway economically speaking. I offer that it was because a US flag vessel got captured and that played well on the news. Once it becomes apparent tothe media that our economy is being impacted by a lack of sea contol and our SLOCs are being interdicted by pirates, terrorists or a foreign state, you can expect that same type of response that the Maersk Alabama got, to happen again. In 20 years our Navy may look somewhat different from what our CNO envisions. However the force structure debate ends up, I honestly believe that the United States will maintain a strong blue-water navy at the expense of the other services. It will be tough for the American economy to continue without free and unfettered trade, and we'll require a stong maritime force to maintain that unfettered trade in the future.
Predictions: 1. The Brits 'sharing decks' w/ the Frogs will never, never work. For a host of reasons ... not in 100 lifetimes ... 2. If the Brits walk away from fixed-wing carrier operations ... they'll never come back ... not in 1000 lifetimes ... What a sad state of affairs for a country that was once THE innovator in carrier aviation and the country that once had the greatest Navy in the world.
Seems like up until the last minute, it was the Tornados that were to be axed, not the Harriers. http://www.economist.com/research/a...id=17468447&subjectID=349020&fsrc=nwl
Forget the AW wristwatch group purchases... but pass the hat for this! Invincible up for auction (minus engines and aircraft): Sale by Tender - HMS Invincible Sad day.
I wonder if there is a reserve for the auction? What do you say, we take up a collection within AW and see if we can buy ourselves a carrier!!
I got a chuckle out of this. Does GB not have the same deferential code of conduct between servicemen and politicians? If a U.S. serviceman pointedly corrected a politician he'd catch some crap.
Seriously, if we get a collection for all of the above as well as some Westland H-3's - we could move AirWarriors to the next logical step in its development... A mercenary force to be reckoned with!!
"At the moment, we can afford to either have the aircraft or the carriers, but not both..." That was hysterical.
Well, since we'd own their carrier, the Brits would have a hard time getting them back! Not sure what we'd do with a dreary little island, 2000 royal subjects, and a shit-ton of sheep, though!
I'm thinking a "Mouse that Roared" scenario. We threaten the US with becoming allies with Venezuela, get billions in US foreign aid and the rest is gravy.
