Have we even got enough planes for a carrier? Serious question.MSN
www.msn.com
As most of you who follow this thread know, I’m quite hawkish on defence issues despite being a centre left with the rest of my politics. I’ve been outspoken in my beliefs that the nuclear subs are the right thing for us.
Saw this article this morning, essentially the uk built two big fancy carriers - they don’t even have a complete carrier group to protect one of them, so the dogma has been that one is sailing, one is in refurb / downtime (whatever you pussers call it)
Now they are saying there is not enough funding for both and that they are looking at flogging one off to …. Hmmmm who would we like to grab it…. Ah the Aussies, those cub’s are just the ticket. They don’t lose too much face as let’s face it, they are family - we can legit share the resource and the expenses without bankrupting either of us and between both navies can provide an adequate carrier group.
Now id be lying if I said i wouldnt love this, its a carrier and its easily the best non seppo carrier in the world. It’s a real point of pride, it’s a big boys toy and it shows that we can blah blah blah ……Collective national ego trip etc.
Should we do it?
FUNK NO!!!
As much as I’d love to have a fleet air arm again and bemoan the loss of our old fleet air arm (and my subsequent decision to go army not navy pilot) when the nasty argentoolians showed England that selling us invincible was a daft idea for a nation that has a colonial past and far flung remnants of empire.
The facts are that carriers are for force projection. Carriers are there so you can take your navy and troop carriers over to the other side of the globe and demand that people with funny accents do what you say or else. Or don’t worry about saying anything, just take their s**t and call them sooky lalas.
We have zero need for this, if we are going to be a part of that it will be under the auspices of Uncle Sam and they have all those toys, we don’t need them. If however Uncle Sam is cut down with old age or not available due to orange… or whatever, a carrier is just going to complicate things for our navy - especially given that basically every naval asset we have would have to surround it in an interlocking defence INCLUDING the AUKUS subs, which kinda defeats the purpose of them. If we are ever threatened with invasion / blockade - I want the AUKUS subs out harassing the enemy convoy not sitting around our carrier playing defence.
Thoughts?
As you say they are for force projection and surely Australia has little interest in that. And if we did get one China would completely lose their minds and make it a priority to destroy our economy this time - which they can do.