Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Uhhh, maybe if the Frogs and Brits cannot agree to share one, they will let us use it for a while?
We are sorta short on birdfarms now, and no prospect of much changing for the better. If the Dhimmocrats get in, it will only get worse, and worse.
I doubt this is possible. The French version will be CATOBAR and the British STOVL. There should be provisions for the British carriers to be converted to CATOBAR if they wanted, but that is a significant overhaul, and would defeat the purpose of interoperability.
More likely… this is just talk so that they can get the carriers that they need.
[...] Lex covers the official French suggestion that France and the UK solve the budget problems they are facing in building new aircraft carriers [...]
[...] to leaks and reports here and there, the French and British Admiralties are in discussion about the possibility of sharing an aircraft [...]
Hello Lex and All,
Great to jump into this blog. Have been reading it for while, and thought it timely to weigh-in.
Video link here to a CGI animation of the new Brit carrier by their defense folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhHgHjd5EYY&feature=related
Seems very odd to me to operate a carrier that big but stick with STOVL jets and helos. IMO the force multipliers of other fixed wing capabilities would have to massively offset any gains in STOVL’s simpler launch/recovery cycles and operability in appalling sea states.
In reply to Chunks, it should noted that they are designed with space for steam/emals cats and arrester gear should the Royal Navy revert to conventional ops.