At this point, the only thing they’re interested in is seeing tomorrow. The enemy of the British military at this point is no opposing country, but three extremely short sighted political parties only interested in penny pinching as to appease their bases.

Also, remember only about half of USN Squadrons are deployed on American Carriers at any given time.

That’s because there’s a cycle. They need time for training of new personnel and tactical, maintenance (six months of cat launches and traps an be very taxing on an airframe), and since these are human beings and not robots, god forbid they actually get to see their families. And that’s just the air wing side to say nothing of the carrier and the other ships in the battle group.

In the 1965 assessment, the RAN mentions buying a new-build Foch repeat from the French, but immediately dismisses it without comment, preferring either buying a new-build (and far more expensive) CVA-01 or rebuilding an old Essex (at least as expensive as buying the French aircraft).

In my view, a Foch-type would have been the best option… it would be in service until ~2000, and would be capable of operating decent numbers of high-quality aircraft until it was retired!

I don’t know about that. Foch was retired early because it was unable to operate rafales. It operated Crusaders far beyond their obsolesce because it really couldn’t operate anything much larger. To operate anything modern, like second hand hornets, would have probably required a reconstruction with a a change to the angled deck and longer, more powerful cats.

Would the Aussies have bought Sea Harriers? Or gone with AV-8Bs?

Considering that air defense woud have been their primary mission, SHARs would have been preferred. That being said, acquiring AV-8B+s to replace the SHARs wouldn’t be out fo the question.

Benroethig, if Indian govt just prepares to defend against two front onslaught from China & Pak, jingoes will be happy. P8I is an antidote for formidable Chinese + Pakistan sub flotilla.

Wish Indian Army gets basic things such as towed arty & SPH as fast as possible. M177’s are being purchased, but they are not in enough no.’s. Boeing P8I was bought on some understanding with US, hence it will see a relatively fast induction, rather than going through long arduous saga like mmrca or worse arty saga.

UK doesn’t face cold war type threat anymore, hence it can be bit relaxed for now. We know that if push comes to shove, Britain will not hesitate to up the ante!

With what? Over the last 30 years both conservative leaders have done their best to get rid of both equipment and manufacturing capability. You can’t build up rapidly like the 40s.

The big difference here is the Indian government is committed to being a power. The UK government is committed to no longer being one.

In some aspects, yes. The APG-79 flies or should i say scans rings around the pulse dopler CAPTOR and the pylon configuration plus the radar makes it bit more suitable for some missions than the Tornado GR.

Reforming 800 and 801 with leased supers (probably block Is though) at Oceana or Cherry Point and putting them into CVWs wouldn’t be a bad idea. You’d have a veteran corps of aviators and crews by the time the F-35C and the QEs come into service.

Russian mission was always to sink carriers, not to operate them, active international interventionism was never a priority for their national policies.

Was. Their priorities started shifting during the final decade of the soviet union. Just didn’t have time to complete their CVNs.

What you’re arguing for is reform of the US army. You’re saying that the USMC is better at certain army tasks than the army. That isn’t an argument for the duplication of army capabilities, it’s an argument for fixing its faults.

And where would a different perspective come from then?