No kidding, Putin ought to give the Crimea back to Ukraine,,, and beg them to help him fix his boat! as they say "Karma is a,, well you know", LOL
Aircraft Carriers III
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
No kidding, Putin ought to give the Crimea back to Ukraine,,, and beg them to help him fix his boat! as they say "Karma is a,, well you know", LOL
Viva La France!
Jura The idiot
General
I think it's Vive
LOL
Indeed, Viva is Hispanic, being in America it's what our friend is more likely to hear on a daily basis. I imagine if he were from 'North of the Border' the French version might be more familiar!
Enough of the Geography and language lessons. glad tp see Monsieur de Gaulle back on the ocean waves at long last. It does rather demonstrate what we and many others have debated long and hard over the last few years, one carrier (cat and trap + nuclear) verses two (STOVL and diesel powered). Whilst in refit for the last couple of years, France has had NO carrier for emergencies, and my gut feeling is their 'replacement Carrier' programme will drop the nuclear propulsion requiremkent in order to afford two hulls, but they'll stick with cat and trap in order to support the French aircraft industry, as they bu8ild their own aircraft and won't want to buy 'off the shelf' from the USA.
I hope in the new year we get to see some photos of CdG sailing in company with QE at some point, that would be a magnificent view by any measure!
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Lol
I don’t know if it’s the land scape and grey dull weather but those shipyards in Russia look terrible
Latest update on the Prince of Wales:
I agree wholeheartedly. A CVN is too much ship for a lot of missions. And with only 10-11 that doesn't mean many available worldwide either. A CVF turning up off someones coast has just as much effect in peacetime as a CVN. In war 2 CVF would be more survivable than a single CVN.
The reduction of reliance on 1 yard would also be an important factor. But in terms of cost I think you're a little off. The cost of Prince of Wales is c£2.5bn in reality, the £1.65bn of additional programme costs added due to political delays and F-35C could be discounted. Also the lessons learned from QE have reduced the cost and time to construct. Take those lessons forward in to a USN CVF build and build 6 of them and the cost could be kept at £2.7bn ($3.5bn at current exchange rates) including EMALS and AAG in a CATOBAR configuration (that includes the design work necessary as well).At most, with all the US bells and whistles (different radar, missiles, anti-torp defences etc) at most it would be $4bn. At that price you're looking at 4 CATOBAR CVF for the price of 1 Ford Class in cost to build. If you factor in the crew manning necessary a fairer comparison would be 3 CVF to 1 Ford Class (1600 per CVF, 4800 per Ford). Comparing 4 CVF to 1 Ford Class would actually be fair on a long term basis as the cost of the nuclear powerplant will add huge costs over the lifetime (and decommissioning) but you're essentally doubling the airgroup as well at that point. Also there would need to be some additional funds set aside for tankers and stores ships.
The USN would be best served by only keeping 9 CVN. 8 for the Pacific Fleet, the vast distance means the nuclear powerplant adds something there, to face off to the Chinese, who are far the biggest threat going forward. 1 CVN on the East Coast to keep the nuc berths open (probably a CVN on post refit workup or training). They could then purchase and run 6 CATOBAR CVF for the same cost as 2 Ford Class. Those CVF could easily cover the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Carrier Quals and the Red Sea/Persian Gulf/Indian Ocean in conjunction with the QE Class and CdG. Alternately they could have 6 CVN in the Pacific Fleet, with 3 additional CVF forward based at Yokosuka, Guam or Singapore. The 3 remaining CVN and 3 CVF could work out of the West Coast. The net result would be a sustainable and cost effective increase in hulls, with no increase in manning. Forward Deployment could be returned to, with the added benefit of the less costly CVF being closest to the threat with the CVN's being a reinforcement. Sort of a 1st Class Carrier division. If the USN wanted to be really cute they could load the CVF with F-18E/F and retain the F-35 and MQ-25 to CVN's only.
Jura The idiot
General
now this:
is something
What do you mean? The total programme cost is well known, as is the cost of the delays imparted by the Treasury, in order to generate in year savings, and the then Defence Secretary's foolish dalliance with the F-35C. About the only good piece of news in that timeframe was the French paying a non-refundable £100m for access to the design....
Jura The idiot
General
6.2/2=3.1