As ever, ORAC, you find some thought-provoking stuff. Thank you. One comment on this.
Originally Posted by
ORAC
Without going into an arms race with Russia, we must invest massively and quickly in our common defense…
Too late, that's already happening.
Originally Posted by
ORAC
After 20 years of letting the muscles atrophy, you are asking for a personal max dead lift.
Not gonna happen.
But at least they are heading back to the gym.
Nutty, your Navy's carrier just go underway for a large NATO exercise...but...
Royal Navy carrier HMS
Prince of Wales (R09)
departed its Portsmouth home port on Monday to participate in a massive NATO exercise
in place of carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R09), which was sidelined for repairs.
“Britain’s biggest warship today sailed for Norway to lead an international task group in one of the most important military exercises in a generation,” the Royal Navy
announced on Monday. The ship’s company made rapid preparations for the carrier to lead the the service’s participation in exercise Steadfast Defender 2024.
“I would like to congratulate the crew of HMS
Prince of Wales for their hard work and dedication in rapidly preparing the ship for departure. The ability to deploy hundreds of crew to make ready one of the world’s most complex aircraft carriers within a week is testament to the skill and ability of the Royal Navy,” stated U.K. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps in the release.
Capt. Will Blackett, commanding officer of
Prince of Wales, said the carrier was bought from a 30-day notice for deployment to immediate readiness in a single week through a monumental effort by the whole enterprise, including
Queen Elizabeth, Portsmouth Naval Base and numerous defense and industry partners. “I am immensely proud of how my ship’s company and their families have responded to this short-notice tasking,” said Blackett in the release.
Well done
PoW and crew for getting underway ahead of schedule... the signal from a USN-type Flag Officer would be "Bravo Zulu"
Speaking of USN type flag officers: Admiran Leighton "Snuffy" Smith was the man in charge at AFSOUTH back in 95 when the NATO ops in Former Yugoslavia went kinetic (
USS Normandy's Tomahawk strikes in Serb air defense sites) and the IFOR deployment commenced.
Amongst his other awards:
Aviation Content: Naval Aviator, flew A-4's and A-7's off of aircraft carriers. Passed away 28 November 2023.
Compare the state of readiness in NATO in 1995 to today. I'd say the Peace Dividend went a bit too far.
