MM you make the point that the retention of the Sea Harrier is not viable from a financial viewpoint, and I in some ways I find myself agreeing with you - reluctantly of course. However, surely keeping some in store (as some are speculating on the net) would seem to be a reasonable compromise?
The news that six are going to Culdrose for use at the School of Flight Deck Ops raises a faint possibility that they could be returned to frontline service in a genuine crisis. However, maintenance and storage issues make that possibility a small one, at least within any sort of reasonably fast timescale. That said, a number of the ships sent South in 1982 were hurriedly brought out of mothballs but I guess issues with wiring, controls etc would make this sort of thing more difficult.
As to costs perhaps cutting down on the amount of needless paperwork and pointless bureaucracy would help? And like Jacko I'm sceptical about the value of the nuclear deterrent. Surely
some savings can be made there?
The above was written before your last PM (haven't read it yet), so don't have a go at me over that.
Jacko I may be wrong, but I think I heard someone (a Staff Officer) state that the UK will soon have the second greatest amphibious capability in the world.
We no longer need (nor can we affford) a balanced ocean going navy capable of handling any level of operation autonomously. We merely need to be able to make a useful contribution to very large scale coalition operations and to be able to undertake more modest ops on our own.
UK contributions to coalition operations often include autonomous operations with operations. That is what is the US expects and wants. Yes that would mean an amphibious force with its own area of operations, and expected to cope without significant US support.
As you may have noticed there appears to be a potential crisis in the Middle East, as discussed
here. In the event of a Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, a US attack, or the imposition of sanctions Iran has threatened to stop the flow of oil from the Gulf. Depending on what happened politics may make it impossible for some Gulf states to offer support.
Iran's extensive coastline (about 1500 miles long) means shipping in the whole Persian Gulf/Northern Arabian Gulf could be under threat. There would be a myriad of threats - air, surface, submarine, mines, land based missiles, assymmetric. The
Iranian Air Force still exists as do the other possible threats, and the potential for mayhem is high. There will be times when ships, both merchant and naval, are closer to the Iran bases than the nearest friendly bases or US carrier group. This sort of crisis would inevitably involve the UK.