The UK has just signed a big defence deal for two new aircraft carriers - the deal has been many years in the wings with initial design work already done.
It was a strange decision in the 1960s to cancel the future carrier programme. The UK made do with helicopter crusiers that were only really saved by the versatile Harrier. We've also now gone more into helicopter landing platforms - good support vessels for land force support.
With all the equipment shortatges in Iraq and Afghanistan it's a very strange decision to be placing orders for carriers. Especially when the aircraft to put on them might be beyond our budget (10 bn I heard), also the destroyer escort has been cut back to six ships. The news item I saw kept on mentioning "powerful ships" but in reality they are vulnerable in the extreme.
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