[GAFlyer4Fun]

Out of interest when do our aircraft carriers arrive?

we could buy Hermes back from india, just need a few Harriers or maybe trim off the ski jump and built a few Buccaneers (we must still have the plans somewhere) and we a up one carrier!

May as well buy an old US carrier than Hermes and then buy some tried and tested ex-US Navy jets to operate from it. The US will have worked out all the gremlins by now and established well used procedures to save us the cost of reinventing the wheel. Would have to dredge the Solent a bit more than currently planned.

[Bill McCarthy]

You're kidding - we gave them aircraft carrier technology in the first place, marine gas turbine propulsion, gave them jump jet tech too, but they have completely made a hash of it with the disaster that is the F35.
Having Europe involved in joint development of military fighters means that Russia will know every single component of the Typhoon for instance (via what was once East Germany) and how to counter it. It would be nice to think that we could once more go it alone on military stuff.

[johnm]

I think we're a bit beyond 19th century gun boat diplomacy at this point

Why we're investing all this dosh in carriers and dodgy US jump jets is beyond me. Now we're leaving the EU, the French can take over our NATO role in alliance with Germans and thus form the core of a European defence force. As we'll still be in NATO the EU, as a fellow member, will have to protect us just like Turkey

[Genghis the Engineer]

Out of interest when do our aircraft carriers arrive?

we could buy Hermes back from india, just need a few Harriers or maybe trim off the ski jump and built a few Buccaneers (we must still have the plans somewhere) and we a up one carrier!

May as well buy an old US carrier than Hermes and then buy some tried and tested ex-US Navy jets to operate from it. The US will have worked out all the gremlins by now and established well used procedures to save us the cost of reinventing the wheel. Would have to dredge the Solent a bit more than currently planned.

Which the Americans would love - as that decision would end a whole raft of UK high technology industries, and we'd never rebuild that capability. Thus for several generations, we'll be buying everything from the USA. At higher prices as well - as the cost of buying such kit is always higher if you couldn't have built something equivalent yourself.

G

[Flying_john]

The EU is asking for a considerable amount of money from the UK to leave

The press and other news media seem to continually report the request/demand by the EU that we somehow owe them £50Billion or thereabouts.

Clubs I have been a member of have never demanded payment on leaving and if any payment is due it must surely be from the EU to the UK to compensate us, as in any divorce settlement. Notwithstanding that, what about the Billions we poured into the bailout funding for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

It would be different if we had not been a net contributor to the EU for so many years, but UK has always paid in more than we received back and to ask for us to pay for future liabilities for pensions for Eurocrats when the monies will have already been collected year by year as in any other employment to fund pensions is nonsensical.

One hopes that the "May" team are not just going to collapse and agree to every one of the demands made by Hollande and his merry men but turn the tables and start making demands of repayment from the EU.

[chevvron]

Out of interest when do our aircraft carriers arrive?

we could buy Hermes back from india, just need a few Harriers or maybe trim off the ski jump and built a few Buccaneers (we must still have the plans somewhere) and we a up one carrier!

May as well buy an old US carrier than Hermes and then buy some tried and tested ex-US Navy jets to operate from it. The US will have worked out all the gremlins by now and established well used procedures to save us the cost of reinventing the wheel. Would have to dredge the Solent a bit more than currently planned.

Plenty of carrier borne combat aircraft at Davis-Monthan AFB; probably including a few Harriers, after all, they bought most of our 'redundant' ones.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Plenty of carrier borne combat aircraft at Davis-Monthan AFB; probably including a few Harriers, after all, they bought most of our 'redundant' ones.

And most of the Sea Harriers were bought by India. They might be getting a bit old now though.

[Paultheparaglider]

On Gib - It's just the start of gamesmanship. Of course sovereignty isn't in question. My only worry is that on some small thing all the talks could grind to a half, and we end up without agreement at all or some horrible political unworkable compromise.

It sounds to me like we are stuck between a Rock and a hard place on this one.

[malcolmfrost]

The fascinating thing is that Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, but also even more so to stay with the UK. The obvious solution would be to have another referendum on remaining in the UK outside the EU but......

[chevvron]

Plenty of carrier borne combat aircraft at Davis-Monthan AFB; probably including a few Harriers, after all, they bought most of our 'redundant' ones.

And most of the Sea Harriers were bought by India. They might be getting a bit old now though.

Not Sea Harriers; I was referring to the block of 72 'hardly used' GR9s which were bought by the USMC.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Indeed, yes, but I was adding in a bit more info!

[Rob P]

..... the cost of buying such kit is always higher if you couldn't have built something equivalent yourself.

How well we remember. Nimrod AEW3 and MRA4

In that case buying US from the start would have saved us shed loads of money, whilst the only knowledge we would have sacrificed is that we aren't very good at speccing, designing and building large aircraft any more.

Rob P

[Rob P]

We could offer Scotland to Spain if they'd stop whinging about Gibraltar. It's bigger and it has Nicola Sturgeon and Billy Connolly.

Rob P

[matthew_w100]

Well the Cornish are now wailing that they want their EU money instead of it going the the NHS like the bus promised, now we've got our country back. Perhaps we could give them to the Spanish instead?

[Paul_Sengupta]

Wait, what? We need that money for the roads here in Wales.