So today sees the launch of HMS Queen Elizabeth II, the largest aircraft carrier ever to see service in the Royal Navy even if you could probably fit three of them inside an American carrier. Allegedly, there is a second one to follow and with tears (of pain not patriotism!) glistening in my eyes I can tell you that together they will cost around £6.2 billion! However, with the sort of political and strategic leadership that we have all grown to despair of, it seems that the second one will be moth-balled because we can't afford to fill the tank or something. Even with those two British behemeths added to the punting party which constitutes the Royal Navy these days, we still have more admirals than ships. Even so, none of them appear to possess more than 3.07 brains cells!
OK, OK, as an ex-corporal I admit that my knowledge of naval matters is limited but even so I cannot rid myself of the suspicion that these floating castles are as out of date as land castles. The only justification for aircraft carriers is to aid the projection of your power round the globe. Yeeeeeees, quite, what power? And what good will one operational aircraft carrier be when you consider its vulnerability in a modern age where some 15-year-old geek in his bedroom can close down computer systems at the press of a button, or, a missile (or multiple missiles) can hurtle in from space? As always, our admirals are intent on fighting the last war.
Of course, what they should be concentrating on is how they will defend these Islands against attack and in that scenario an aircraft carrier is a waste of space. What is needed is superb e-warfare measures and counter-measures. And I do mean the very best that our brainiest IT swots can come up with. In addition, we do not need big ships, we need lots and lots of little ships but all of them packed with anti-missile missiles - how many small missile ships could have been built for £6.2 billion? Their anti-missile defence systems deployed well out to sea would act as the first line of defence and be integrated into our land-based systems. This should provide as good a defence as possible against any enemy attempting a missile/drone/aircraft attack on this country.
And as it happens, we have an excellent site for testing these tactics - the Falkland Islands. There is no possibility these days of us emulating Maggie's crusade, we simply haven't the means. But we could institute the sort of defence system I have described above on and around the Falklands which should be able to stop any 'Argie' force long before it even reaches the Islands. The lesssons learned from that would be invaluable in planning the defence of Britain.