The Anglo-French Navy Is Here: Lieutenant-Command Thomas Woodrooffe Was Right
THE news that Liam Fox is countenancing running the Navy’s new carriers without aircraft seems, on the face of it, an admirable solution. Without the noise and disruption of these smelly jets, the new generation of sailors will be able to listen to their iPods in peace, while the MoD can rent the vessel out as a floating conference suite, complete with helipads and tennis courts with a 360° sea view, writes Richard North.
He adds:
In the meantime, the BBC has learned that “at least one” of the new carriers will be redesigned so that it can deploy normal fighter aircraft that do not need a Harrier-style vertical lift capability.
Dr Fox says that there would be “interoperability” so strike fighter aircraft from allies such as France could land on UK aircraft carriers, and vice versa.
So what have we here? No British aircraft, an Anglo-French agreement on joint carrier operation and now a carrier design change that allows for the operation of French aircraft on the British carrier.
And as more and more details leak out, you can see the game – the Armed Forces are being stripped of capability to the point that they can no longer operate independently, even within the context of an alliance. We will have to look to “allies” for operational components just so that we can field our forces…
That it should happen now, under a (partially) Tory government is not a surprise. Historically, the Tories have always been keenest on European military “co-operation” and the die was cast when Portillo signed the co-operation deal in 1996. Euro-Navy here we come, with the European Carrier Group as the flagship operation.
We are now simply seeing the end came of a process that has been under development for decades, and which started with Heath and his merry men.
Which reminds us – THE FLEET! really is disappearing:
Posted: 19th, October 2010 | In: Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
