1. #1
    AndyJWest's Avatar Senior Member
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    With a Ministry of Defence like this...

    ...who needs enemies?The latest episode in the long running 'we must have aircraft carriers, but we can't afford the aircraft' saga: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/ma...strike-fighter. Evidently it costs more to redesign the carriers to suit the aircraft we want than it does to order aircraft we don't want instead (though as a bonus, this way we annoy the French). Still, no doubt eventually we'll have something to sail up and down the Afghan coast, to frighten the Taliban with...
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  2. #2
    WTE_Galway's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally Posted by AndyJWest Go to original post
    Still, no doubt eventually we'll have something to sail up and down the Afghan coast, to frighten the Taliban with...
    hmmm .... and Afghanistan acquired a coastline when ?????
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  3. #3
    AndyJWest's Avatar Senior Member
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    Irony, Galway, irony...

    Either that, or we're planning ahead for raised sea levels accompanying the global warming our fleet is going to cause, as our carriers pursue our aircraft at full speed to make sure they can land before they run out of fuel - which from what I can figure out is going to be five minutes after they take off, if they are actually carrying anything other than a pilot, a photocopy of a page from an atlas, and a half-brick to throw at Johnny Afghan as they pass overhead. At least when the Nazis came up with implausible wonder-weapons to disguise the fact that the state of their economy meant that they couldn't fill their aircraft with fuel and bullets at the same time, they did it with a bit more style...
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  4. #4
    Bo_Nidle's Avatar Senior Member
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    I despair at the state of this once great nation on a daily basis.

    I find it rather interesting that the Argentinians have decided to get belligerent over the Falklands again at the same time we scrap what passed for aircraft carriers (I believe the correct term for them was actually "Through-deck cruisers") making it impossible for us to project air-power at sea.

    We have needed proper carriers for decades, now we are left with nothing and what we have on the drawing boards is in sh!t order. Although I believe the USMC were VERY pleased with the large number of low mileage and wonderfully equipped Harriers they bought of us at bargain basement prices.

    It also amazes me that the UK baulks at the cost of equipment desperately needed for the effective defence of the UK and its assets (what's left of them) yet the cost of staging an overblown "sports-day" in the form of the 2012 London Olympics is accepted without a lot of question at all. At an estimated £12 billion (that's without all the extra's such as transport factored in, which an estimate of £24 billion has been suggested!!!!!) this is a catastrophic waste of money that should be used for the NHS, defence, schools.

    Still, you can't put a price on a bronze in cycling can you?

    And to add insult to injury we are forming alliances with the FRENCH!!!! Nelson and Wellington must be spinning in their graves.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt3ey...eature=related

    We need carriers. As the saying goes:" You prepare for the war you may have to fight, not the one you are fighting".
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  5. #5
    Hey, Al Qaeda's air force isn't going to shoot itself down.
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  6. #6
    Your friendly neighbores could sell you lot some obsolete Leopard tanks? Or care for some submarines? But you will have to get in line behind Greece!
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  7. #7
    danjama's Avatar Banned
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    God, it's depressing.
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  8. #8
    WTE_Galway's Avatar Senior Member
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    Seems to me you guys need to have a chat to the Ukraine and see if they haveany more of those Kuznetsov class they sold the chinese stashed away. You could grab a few surplus SU33 and be all set.
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  9. #9
    Originally Posted by WTE_Galway Go to original post
    and be all set.
    Be all set for what? And WTF do we need carriers for!? We're an island ain't we? We are an aircraft carrier. All we have to do is mind our own business and we're sorted.
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  10. #10
    danjama's Avatar Banned
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    Originally Posted by arthursmedley Go to original post
    Be all set for what? And WTF do we need carriers for!? We're an island ain't we? We are an aircraft carrier. All we have to do is mind our own business and we're sorted.
    Mr Cameron? Is that you?

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