To keep two new carrier projects, the British Navy is proposing very deep cuts. So deep that the carriers may not have any planes to launch. This leads to all kinds of speculation--like building big carriers and then either using them for helos (which will not operate too well if anyone else has planes) or just have them standby in mothballs. Contracts are a bitch, apparently. Seems like the need to make a hard choice is making it hard to make a decent choice. Hard decisions do not have to be bad ones, but that seems to be the only ones being taken seriously right now.
HT to Pete Trumbore for linking to this.
Reminds me a bit of universities building tons of fancy new buildings as they cut staff and classes and accept fewer students. Makes no sense, but bureaucrats and financiers seem to love big capital projects of all kinds.
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteRead Mike Horrowitz's book if you have not already. Really smart on military innovation and his chapter on aircraft carriers is illuminating. Made me realize just how hard it is to keep these things operational and effective. Made me much more pessimistic about the Chinese ever doing this well.