FODPlod
As these Apaches must be from the five embarked in HMS Ocean, think what extra capability a dozen or so Harriers could have brought to the party.
Yes, but surely aircraft for aircraft the Harrier is faster and has a better weapon load, so even a smaller number of Harriers would be extremely useful? Which reminds me....a number of pages ago someone suggested that the Prime Minister himself had enquired about restoring some Harriers and the carrier capability, only to be given a negative reply. Therefore I might raise my suggestion again.
It occurs to me that if we could supply a number (most/all of them) of our now stored Harrier GR9s to the US, and continue to offer the USMC a chance to carry out embarkations of a dozen or so Harriers, we may be able to purchase or lease a number of AV8B (AV8B+ if we're lucky) aircraft in a quid pro quo type arrangement. Hopefully any such deal would include some sort of Memorandum Of Understanding (like the agreements used to support Italian and Spanish Harriers) in order to prevent the UK to incur major support costs, but would offer the following advantages:
1. The UK would still be able to respond to crises in which carrier aviation is useful.
2. The RN would maintain the skills needed to run a carrier with jets on deck (see
here or
here), and would maintain a cadre of both Pilots and Engineers to work with these aircraft, avoiding the need to start from scratch later on this decade.
3. If we could get AV8B+s then it would give the Navy a capability that it lost when the Sea Harrier was retired in 2006. We would therefore be in a far better position to provide air defence for a maritime task group, or to participate in policing a no fly zone.
4. We would no longer have to pay for storing retired aircraft, and the Government would be justified in portraying this as a step forward.
5. Our potential adversaries would have something to think about - prevention (deterrence) being better than cure.
6. The defence relationship with the US would be strengthened, as would the defence relationship with France as
Illustrious would be able to relieve
Charles De Gaulle in x months time.
Illustrious is likely to be sent to relieve
Ocean as a platform for Apache in any case, not that this is without
difficulties.
Seldomfitforpurpose
The French Government is unlikely to publically say that
CDG's withdrawal will comprimise the mission, is it? How do you compensate for losing 15-20 aircraft near to the target with just six based further away? In any case I think she is carrying more helicopters than usual which has reduced the number of jets she can carry.
As for the
WSJ article - is it 100% reliable? I would suggest not - as it claims that
CDG had been doing counter piracy operations in the Indian Ocean prior to March, when in fact she had been deployed to provide air support for ground forces in Afghanistan. Indeed, she was escorted for at least some of the time by HMS
Cumberland, another victim of the SDSR axe. I wonder if the sailors were struck by the irony? Then on her way home, she was diverted with Libyan operations....
Perhaps the
WSJ has an agenda? There is a debate in the US over the future of the US Armed Forces too.
dalek
What frontline NATO base?
caz
Plan? What plan?
glad rag
CDG has been deployed almost constantly since October.