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
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
I beg to differ, Lex. If the Brits were buying F-35B there would be an argument…but they have switched to the CTOL F-35C.
Which means that they could substitute E/F or Rafale M for it in a heartbeat.
Agreed. Obviously, the Brits aren’t that afraid of outsourcing their requirements/needs to other vendors -
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/11/123_98938.html
Pretty much my thoughts, Mike. Canning the JSF for some Supers… at about one third the cost… is a win-win for the Brits.
Brits are pragmatic and will go with what they know.
If the new $300 MIL per whiz-bangety plane is a scratch, they can fall back to some of their older planes. It won’t be like having a brand new one to fly but will still allow them planes for the new carriers.
The E-type Jag is 50 years old and still a champ. Brits are made of tough stuff. I wish them well as regrdless of what the Fool in the White House thinks, they are our best friends and allies. Always.
Excellent analogy SK1 – my old MGB GT, however, would only ever be my fallback `weapon of second choice` (or more likely fourth). As for your concluding comments, my Dad always used to say to me, when talking of a United Europe with France as the one in the Chair, “The French would sell brimstone to the devil”.
Napoleon was a big critic of “coalition” warfare for just these reasons. Much the same could be said for us depending on our NATO allies for the lions share of ASW & mine-laying/sweeping capability–which made some sense in the European waters NATO context but does nothing for helping out with our now atrophied-to-non-existent capabilities in these areas world-wide..
Dont you mean France’s new carriers? Or will it be Brazil? Or Argentina? Hmmmmm.
NAO Options Table (from AvWeek ARES blog):
http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/4/2/54b83250-091c-4271-822f-89299d7a06a3.Full.jpg
Still think we ought to offer GW to the Brits when she comes due for her potentially cancelled refueling overhaul. For $3-4B, the Brits would get a 25-30yr, up-to-date supercarrier capable of handling everything the US flies, including the E/F/G and E-2D. The US gets a force multiplier still on active service with reliable ally and also gets to forego the $2B it will cost to defuel and lay her up. It would certainly be ironic if they took the deal. Wonder if they’d change the name?
Nice deal Trapper. I’d go for that. an FDR Lend-Lease in reverse, sort of. All we’d have to do is widen the entrance to Portsmouth harbour to get that big bus in. (Every other US flat top had to moor in The Solent and ship the liberty crews ashore to the awaiting..er.. delights of that city). I’d love to see that. As for the name…just drop the George, `Washington` is a town in the North East