America Can Count on the UK
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"I know cash is short but please don't cancel F-35B or we're screwed."
USMC on their own with it (or not!) vs two big shiny boats and nothing but helos for them.
What a joke, this has to be some kind of tongue in cheek take on our defence strategy, surely?
We might be the worlds 4th biggest defence spenders by GDP but that still puts us at 3rd world level.
The RN now has 19 ships left...NINETEEN SHIPS! Two new carriers for sometime in the future when their technology will be out of date. One of which cannot go to sea because it is too costly, the remaining "operational" one with no OTH radar, no planes and a handful of Merlin's. 4 Nuke subs half of which rarely leave harbour due to costs. And if Labour get in, 2 will be scrapped if not all of them.
An airforce with about 50 serviceable front line fighter aircraft. 21 Chinooks, half a dozen Puma's, 2 AWAC's (if they arrive on time).
An Army - the entire population of which can fit inside Wembley stadium.
The entire fighting establishment (circa 160k) about half the size of Tesco's workforce.
Perleeeeze - U.S. if you are reading this...don't do anything silly with the Ukraine. GB will be wiped out in the first week
Funniest post I have read in ages -
We might be the worlds 4th biggest defence spenders by GDP but that still puts us at 3rd world level.
The RN now has 19 ships left...NINETEEN SHIPS! Two new carriers for sometime in the future when their technology will be out of date. One of which cannot go to sea because it is too costly, the remaining "operational" one with no OTH radar, no planes and a handful of Merlin's. 4 Nuke subs half of which rarely leave harbour due to costs. And if Labour get in, 2 will be scrapped if not all of them.
An airforce with about 50 serviceable front line fighter aircraft. 21 Chinooks, half a dozen Puma's, 2 AWAC's (if they arrive on time).
An Army - the entire population of which can fit inside Wembley stadium.
The entire fighting establishment (circa 160k) about half the size of Tesco's workforce.
Perleeeeze - U.S. if you are reading this...don't do anything silly with the Ukraine. GB will be wiped out in the first week
Funniest post I have read in ages -
Roadster, not sure if you took it the other way, but I'm suggesting its the Brits who are pleading don't cancel. I fear cancellation of 35B would hit the UK harder than the US - for whom it is only represents an irritating and embarrassing but otherwise minor capability loss.
I read into the article that the UK may have intel that some in the US are thinking about canning the B, and Phil is worried, which is why he's telling the US - in a round about way - how much we value it. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.
I read into the article that the UK may have intel that some in the US are thinking about canning the B, and Phil is worried, which is why he's telling the US - in a round about way - how much we value it. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.
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JFZ90, as I said, it can be read either way. I did read it from the perspective of the UK, but as you say, there are jungle drums out there suggesting it might get canned from a US perspective anyway. If the UK pulls out of it on cost grounds, then it would be another nail in the coffin, albeit not such a big one if the will was there.
That said, it's a bit late in the day to do yet another U-turn for the QEC and take F/A-18s on cost grounds (or AN Other conventional carrier aircraft).
That said, it's a bit late in the day to do yet another U-turn for the QEC and take F/A-18s on cost grounds (or AN Other conventional carrier aircraft).
No one will bomb it because London is owned by oligarchs from the relevant countries.
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We already have, as a result of the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, the best-equipped army of its size in the world. We will soon have a fleet of state-of-the-art F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and two brand-new aircraft carriers to fly them from. The first, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will float in July.
Compared to Belguim?
A poo will float, but there is a difference between floating and finished.. And that's nowhere close, it's slated for 2016 plus
Valuable collaboration is already underway. The U.S. is helping Britain regenerate its carrier strike force, allowing British warplanes to operate at sea, alongside U.S. jets, projecting power and influence around the world.
It all reads as needing to hang on Uncle Sam's coat tails
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It all reads as needing to hang on Uncle Sam's coat tails
