Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
"I'd be interested to hear exactly which bit of the money "isn't there", given that the ships are essentially paid for."
"The hole in the Ministry of Defence's budget is apparently £1.7bn a year, plus the annual cost of up to £500m a year of the UK's Continuous at Sea Nuclear Deterrent. According to a senior government source, "without the cash this would mean cancelling significant conventional capability to affect our operational footprint and status"."
Regretfully we are faced with an enormous short-fall in resources
What do you suggest cutting going forward so we have enough cash to run the carriers and their associated air wing?
So un-named source gives number which is unattributed to anything, nor split between EP/ESP/command budgets. Which bits - precisely - of the Carrier Strike capability are currently unfunded? Or is any shortfall in defence numbers automatically the fault of "the carriers"?