Shhh.... you mustn't talk about the AA (Anti-Asteroid) capability of Dave.... the asteriods probably read Pprune too, and will adjust their tactics.....
Anyway, back to the sideshow of the actual debate.
FOG,
Thanks for you courteous and informed responses - always a pleasure. Very interesting on the Somalia situation, but this goes to the heart of the matter. With the right kit (e.g. F-18s currently doing urban CAS) and more importantly, the right training, it must be possible for Dave-C to adequately do the Marines' job - accepting that you need to send a CVN.
Hence my question of without Somalia (which to the cynical outsider looked like a benefit concert for the USMC in its' initial stages), where has an MEU required fast air and only had organic AV-8Bs? This is my point - if the answer is that there haven't been any in which a CVN wasn't - or couldn't - have been available, then I guess I'd be more sympathetic. But unless there are some (in fact, quite a lot), then I'd still come down on binning Dave-B on the grounds of cost.
(And then the RN can get Dave-C, too! Hurrah!
)
S41