I'd rather have a USS Hillary Clinton... if you guys get what I mean.
I don't get it. Is she going to ban the sale of violent video games worldwide? Or let men get away with adultery?
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I don't get it. Is she going to ban the sale of violent video games worldwide? Or let men get away with adultery?
As you may have noticed I do try to respond individually, however I've been away and this has just got too long. Thus I will now attempt general responses;
Ship Names - HMS Death Star only works if the carriers were to displace millions of tonnes and carry thousands of aircraft. If not it does just sound a bit silly. More over it's just asking for someone to build an 'X' class submarine to sink it with nuclear tipped torpedoes.
Current military problems - The key requirement for being head of a British armed service has been managing an ever shrinking budget, particularly since the end of the cold war. While this had been handled OK, certainly in comparison to say the Russian drawdown, it's not gone well.
Defence procurement has been particularly poor, but then that's the case for pretty much everyone (Mainly due to excess political interference, an inability to 'fix' a specification and the desire to meddle too much after awarding contracts.) British specific problems are the damned stupid 'Weapons System' concept and just not having enough money for all the roles the country wants/needs. There are three known solutions to this;
1. Be the US and be rich enough just to throw money at it.
2. Be France and just don't fight so problems with your equipment never emerge. Then flog your stuff to the people the US wont sell to in order to cover the costs.
3. Abandon any idea of a domestic arms industry and just buy kit someone else has developed, paid for and fixed the teething problems with. (As is! No pissing around with massive modifications as Labour insisted on with the UK Apaches and Chinhook HC.3s. Might as well of set fire to the money for all the good that did.)
No option looks particularly good, but a bit of all looks best. There are a few things Britain still does well (we are still a massive arms exporter somehow) but many things we should just stop bothering with. For instance stop messing around with the pointless A.400M and just buy a few C-17s from the US, we're already spending as much to rent them as to buy them outright so ignore the politics, offend Airbus and just get the armed service what they need at a cheap price (Boeing is about to close the line so would doubtless do a deal to anyone so they can keep it open.)
I suppose I want the impossible; remove the politics from procurement, which is clearly never going to happen without a mass cull of the political class and outlawing full time politicians as a concept. A fine plan that would improve many areas beyond defence.
USS Hiliary Clinton - Dear lord no. Could be worse though, I have no doubt the inevitable USS Obama will be given it's Service Stars, Unit Commendations and Presidential Citation while still on the slipway for it's 'Intentions' to be a heroic ship when actually launched.
Ship Names - HMS Death Star only works if the carriers were to displace millions of tonnes and carry thousands of aircraft. If not it does just sound a bit silly. More over it's just asking for someone to build an 'X' class submarine to sink it with nuclear tipped torpedoes.
Current military problems - The key requirement for being head of a British armed service has been managing an ever shrinking budget, particularly since the end of the cold war. While this had been handled OK, certainly in comparison to say the Russian drawdown, it's not gone well.
Defence procurement has been particularly poor, but then that's the case for pretty much everyone (Mainly due to excess political interference, an inability to 'fix' a specification and the desire to meddle too much after awarding contracts.) British specific problems are the damned stupid 'Weapons System' concept and just not having enough money for all the roles the country wants/needs. There are three known solutions to this;
1. Be the US and be rich enough just to throw money at it.
2. Be France and just don't fight so problems with your equipment never emerge. Then flog your stuff to the people the US wont sell to in order to cover the costs.
3. Abandon any idea of a domestic arms industry and just buy kit someone else has developed, paid for and fixed the teething problems with. (As is! No pissing around with massive modifications as Labour insisted on with the UK Apaches and Chinhook HC.3s. Might as well of set fire to the money for all the good that did.)
No option looks particularly good, but a bit of all looks best. There are a few things Britain still does well (we are still a massive arms exporter somehow) but many things we should just stop bothering with. For instance stop messing around with the pointless A.400M and just buy a few C-17s from the US, we're already spending as much to rent them as to buy them outright so ignore the politics, offend Airbus and just get the armed service what they need at a cheap price (Boeing is about to close the line so would doubtless do a deal to anyone so they can keep it open.)
I suppose I want the impossible; remove the politics from procurement, which is clearly never going to happen without a mass cull of the political class and outlawing full time politicians as a concept. A fine plan that would improve many areas beyond defence.
USS Hiliary Clinton - Dear lord no.
Could be worse though, I have no doubt the inevitable USS Obama will be given it's Service Stars, Unit Commendations and Presidential Citation while still on the slipway for it's 'Intentions' to be a heroic ship when actually launched.- 1
I just got my copy of Conways (Lion Class looks good), so I am def. in the mood for some RN navalism.
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There, fixed it for you. It's a sad but not entirely unexpected day when the British perspective of History must come with its own fine print.
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Then spend all day wondering why unemployment is at 10%.
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I believe its Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships
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It's part of my ongoing mission to ensure the French military never again suffers over confidence or even delusions of adequacy. It's a kindness really and only because I care.There, fixed it for you. It's a sad but not entirely unexpected day when the British perspective of History must come with its own fine print.
In any case the point remains French equipment has not really been tested (has a Leclerc MBT ever been shot at in anger?) so it's actual efficacy doesn't matter too much. If something is late and below spec so what? It'll be good enough for "Chad, Haiti, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Horn of Africa" and other places were the enemy is mainly armed with dry grass.
Nathan Madien - Didn't say it was a good option from a wider viewpoint or indeed one I'd recommend just that it is an option.
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El Pip;10321487 [B said:USS Hiliary Clinton[/B] - Dear lord no.
There's already a USS Hillary Clinton, as seen here.
BTW this is an excellent alternate history trilogy, highly recommended to all.
great update as usual Pippy, looking forward to more (hint, hint)
later, caff
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USS Hiliary Clinton - Dear lord no.
Not to mention the awkward truth that nobody dares mention because they don't want to bring up THAT president again; the guy who landed on a carrier to declare "mission accomplished" just as the fighting started. The USS Obama gets all its honours for "not being 'that previous carrier'".
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Get Thales to design the British one, steal said design, then forget the Charles de Gaulle ever happened.El Pip said:
To be fair to the French, they have meddled in Africa successfully enough that a lot of it is still informal colonies if you scratch beneath the surface. Not sure that does either party much good, though.
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If George W. Bush is an carrier, what would Dick Cheney be?
In any case the point remains French equipment has not really been tested (has a Leclerc MBT ever been shot at in anger?) so it's actual efficacy doesn't matter too much. If something is late and below spec so what? It'll be good enough for "Chad, Haiti, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Horn of Africa" and other places were the enemy is mainly armed with dry grass.
Haiti threw out the French and Somalia has pirates...the enemy with dry grass is more dangerous than an enemy with a gun.
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It's part of my ongoing mission to ensure the French military never again suffers over confidence or even delusions of adequacy. It's a kindness really and only because I care.
Albion's perfidy has never been this heart-warming !
In any case the point remains French equipment has not really been tested (has a Leclerc MBT ever been shot at in anger?) so it's actual efficacy doesn't matter too much. If something is late and below spec so what? It'll be good enough for "Chad, Haiti, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Horn of Africa" and other places were the enemy is mainly armed with dry grass.
I'll readily grant you the Leclerc is not battle-tested, but it strikes me as the only piece of Army hardware that hasn't seen action. The AMX-30s, AMX-10RCs, AUF-1s, VABs, ERC-90s, VBLs have all seen serious action, the same can be said of the Air Force crates, and as for navies no-one used them against a navy-equipped enemy in the past 28 years or so...
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Informally, a flak-trap to divert attention, maybe one of those "helicopter carriers" with amphibious assault capabilities.
Seriously; an AEGIS cruiser. Seems to fit taking down the flak for the Prez.
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A warship nobody wants to be close to, among other reasons because it is very prone to "friendly fire".
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A warship nobody wants to be close to, among other reasons because it is very prone to "friendly fire".
It also has stealth capabilities, since it is prone to be secretive.
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Wait... I caught up? Nonono, that can't be true.. Where's the next page? I've been 'flipping' for bloody ages now... Come on, don't hide it... Erh, wait a sec.. *scratches head..* This is it? I have to wait for new updates like everyone else now? Oh my... Bummer.. I'd just gotten used to updates flying off the pages, albeit only once every 3-5 pages or so.. But still.. I can't wait.. I need an update.. Now!! Just a little update.. Just one.. I really need it you know.. Please?
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