Britain’s New Carrier Could Deploy With More US Marine Than British F-35s on Board
The UK spent so much on the carrier pair it doesn't have enough for pricey F-35s to fly them from
The Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier will set out on its first operational mission with more US than British warplanes on board, under plans being examined by defence chiefs.
HMS Queen Elizabeth could deploy with as many as 20 US F-35 jets and just 16 UK F-35s under one scenario, defence sources told the Daily Mail.
The Ministry of Defence is expected to rely on US jets to fill a gap in numbers because it has been too slow to buy its own F-35s.
The final numbers for how many F-35s will deploy with the £3.2billion carrier next year have not yet been decided, but there will be a maximum of 36 on-board.
A defence source said: ‘US Marine Corps jets will make up the numbers – around 20.’
‘Plans for the carrier to deploy with some US jets are longstanding, but it was not clear how many the UK would be relying on.
It comes as a major defence review takes place, with discussions on whether the UK should buy only half its target of 138 F-35s.
The UK has so far agreed to buy 48 by the end of 2025 for £9.1billion. But there are concerns that the Government is preparing to buy as few as 70 in to total.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, said the carrier must not be turned into a ‘multi-national’ ship and the MoD had to order more jets.
He said: ‘Are we setting a precedent which is then an excuse for Number 10 to cut numbers? We need an independent carrier strike capability – that is paramount.’
An MoD spokesman said: ‘British jets will always lead UK carrier deployments. Training with our US allies speeds up our ability to deploy operationally.’
The aircraft carrier is expected to set sail on its first deployment in May next year.
Yesterday departure of the ship from Portsmouth on training exercises was delayed for a second day in a row after sailors tested positive for Covid-19. It is due to sail today.
A MoD spokesman said ‘fewer than ten’ of the 1,000-strong crew had tested positive and had gone ashore.
Those who had contact with them will isolate on board. In April the ship had to delay sailing after two sailors tested positive.
Source: The Daily Mail
Carriers are fat ducks – sunk within the first few minutes of any major conflict.
Do the math. It’s around 200 million per F35. It’s a sad joke because fighters are totally obsolete now. There hasn’t been a dogfight between fighters for at least 40 years. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER. Fighters are now used exclusively as bombers, dropping bombs on any country which can’t bomb back. (Currently Syria.) Eight different countries have bombed Syria in the last ten years.
The only possible use for the RN carriers is as part of a US operation so this is no surprise at all.
I still have no idea what these tubs of junk are meant to be for. Not many places that can be attacked with impunity anymore.
How the US weapons-makers, get lap-dogs like UK all wrapped up in their rackets, make them so-called partners in crime.. they have to buy USA made Lemons for vast amounts of money. Has to be USA google tech of course so the UK can keep an eye on their favourite lackey. Puny has -been UK..for now? tries to play the big power, while its only a USA poodle. In any big/ real war those big money- maker Carriers can be sunk, smashed by hypersonic missiles from land, air, undersea, on sea, no battle group can save them… none. Intimidating weaker nations maybe, not Mighty China, Russia, Iran, even N. Korea they can wipe the Carriers with hundreds of long range missiles, a small nuke or two will suffice also.
Hopefully, the Russians will sink it with a sub. Just for target practice. And UK will do nothing. Meanwhile schools in Britain, outside of the elite ones, crumble.
I’m not sure North Korea has the capabilities required to wipe out a carrier?
The F-35 is not the least bit British.
And your point is….?
Are you replying on a South Korean phone with Chinese electronics assembled in Malaysia? But it’s your phone, because you bought it.
Then why are we not using the equally worthless British pounds instead of FRNs?
How would I know what *you* use? I’m not you.
Thank Yahwah…
It doesn’t matter. The UK cut off its own balls and surrendered its sovereignty to US oligarchs long ago. Please protect and support us, cried the little English fags.
The English gonna bomb Ireland? 🥴☘️
The IRA were bombing London and Birmingham in 1973.
Hopefully, they will not need to bomb the now disoriented “English” again to get their attention. As Brexit causes chaos in UK, Ireland has the chance to independently negotiate with its prime partners, UK, US, Canada and France without the bungling regulatory snares of either the EU or the incomprehensible “Good Friday” accords Slick Willie imposed on the island. New England, the Deep South and the SW US areas should contemplate the opportunities of secession, and peace of mind from globalization that non NATO and hopefully non EU Ireland will soon enjoy. The beaches in Spain and France are no comparison to either Florida, California, or even Maine.
Not if the Irish continue supporting the UK exterminate Russia campaign and remain neo-liberal, “life-style”, immigrant supporting dupes. You’ll be just fine.
Hm. Yes. But interestingly Sinn Fein now is competitive for the first time with the two tweedeldee business partie.s in the Republic.
Local Identity grows. EU and US rot. The cycle is not the artificial election cycle, but you can see it. Devolution the future. Civil wars in US.
Let Manhattan and LA starve. Unpaid soldiers make revolutions.
Manhattan and Los Angeles are shrinking and bankrupt. Everybody wants to move out of both of those places. The only people who aren’t moving out or planning to move out are those who somehow still have some kind of job or can’t afford to move out.
In what way are their land masses shrinking?
They passed the British Empire onto us after the war of 1812 and we converted it into the American Empire.
They passed it on after WWII. It was one of the preconditions that FDR demanded for American entry into the war; Britain had to hand over its Empire as a quid pro quo.
Then why did he have to badger the Japanese emperor into attacking us in lieu of seeing his country starved to extinction?
Because even though Roosevelt began escorting British convoys in mid 1941 and depth charging German U Boats in the Atlantic, Hitler wasn’t cooperative enough to declare war. A back door has to be found into the conflict.
Why would anyone think that would have mattered any more to Roosevelt than any other part of the Constitution that he used as toilet paper?
The Soviets did more than the Americans or British did to beat Hitler.
The U.S. surrendered its sovereignty to the country that we are not allowed to criticize. Most members of Congress have signed a pledged of allegiance to that country. Otherwise, they get no funding and their opponents get all of the funding.
The US surrendered its sovereignty to billionaires and corporations during the 1990s and ’00s. Wake the fuck up.