I'm sure there'd be anjother way to fix bases and supply.

 

Unless half the point of this thread is to beat the British in a battle for the Mediterranean and Africa.

interesting points, gf0012. thanks for your comments.
hope things don't get too heated in these debates; your knowledge on naval matters is leagues ahead of mine... so i defer to you on these matters.

yes, the 'arab alliance' does seem a bit fantastic on paper, but in fact, this HAS BEEN the french gov't's intention for the past 30 years or so! they have accepted so many arab immigrants in an attempt to portray france as an arab country and to gain admittance into the arab league. so i am not completely crazy for thinking up such a plan...

who knows... it may work. i believe that a number of arab countries in fact proposed a de facto merging of states in the 70s... why not now? many are anxious to create a counterbalance to the US in the ME.

your comments on syria / turkey are well taken.

the french don't control the Med entry points but they could wreak havoc on any force trying to enter if they wished. i believe one of france's main air bases in close to Marseille.... they could do multiple sorties against any such naval force. obviously, sea traffic would be stopped during the duration of the crisis.

the moroccans et al would not accept french rule; they would enter into a 'confederation' headed by france while the rest of africa would be subjugated in my scenario. obviously, since liberation from france plays such a large part in moroccan / algerian sensibilities, some form of 'collaboration' in an 'arab alliance' would have to be fashioned.

and i believe malta is predominantly roman catholic.... fits nicely with france:)

so this scenario is 'tres catholique' he he

Btw., I don't have anything against France, but I hope French posters will actively self-initiate some soul-searching of their plans on this forum someday.

 

Some good points on French strength seems to have been made as well as a few realistic comrpromises too.

The French take Malta, Part 2

Tony Blair looks carefully at the military match-up between the UK and France. Tony?s serious problem that really unnerves him is that he only has two small carriers now, (he used to be two, but one has been de commissioned) and only one is ready to go to war now, as these old carriers need so much maintenance that one is usually up for repairs at any given time, and they rotate in and out of ?ready? status. Then there?s the dam lack of Blue Vixen radars, which used to give the ?Sea Harriers? some real punch and potential against other planes, but now the famous sea harriers have become so old that they were sold to India. All that the carriers have are the regular harriers, which are really just light ground attack planes.

Damn, Tony thinks, our army is better, our navy is better, our submarines are better, our air force is better, the only thing they can do is put some Raphael?s in a place where we cant go as easily. Were totally stymied by just 30 Raphael?s and one carrier. Tony goes to bed that night and reading a history book that relates how the British navy managed to ready some light carriers just in time for the invasion of the Falklands fighting; and how they made super fast arrangements buy some American missiles for their jets, and he gets an idea.

The next day he gives a speech stating that he chooses to make no comment on the new French policy of invasion. However, the press leeks out ?reliable? information from ?people in the know? that the UK is planning on doing nothing. However, that same day, various phone calls are put in place around the world, including some American senators and weapons making corporations, as well as Spain, Egypt, Israel and British military installations in West Germany.

A few days later the major ports and shipbuilding facilities of the UK report large call backs of workers; and the MOD reports that new shipbuilding programs have been started, in order to further support the war on terror. This is confusing for the Press, as the MOD also states that the English army is scaling down its commitments in Iraq and other parts of the world, in order to reduce the ?cost? of supporting such a large force overseas. Two weeks later, British troops are angry to learn that they will only be getting one, two, or three weeks leave off after their return from overseas (much shorter then usual) and are put quickly back into combat preparations.

For the first 6 weeks, all is quiet, except for the French press, which is alternating between pounding the collective French chests and criticizing America for its poor quality food, and criticizing the actions of the French president. In all the commotion, the French do not realize that a larger then average portions of the Spanish army are put on ?training exercises? just on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.

But six and a half weeks later a huge UK navel task force leaves port. When news of a major UK navel group traveling south down the Atlantic worries Chirac, but the MOD insists that it is merely a supply and reinforcement group for the UK?s ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other operations in the Middle East. Chirac doesn?t buy this, because he sees that this battle group is composed of not just one, but in fact two British carriers, as well as the Ocean and other amphibious assault ships, more then the usual number of personal carriers then a standard rotate the troops mission for Iraq, way more destroys then are normally seen together; just what Tony would need to support an invasion. He is even more worried when he finds out that one of the ships is their new one with the super ?Sampson? radar that is not ?supposed? to have been fitted with weapons yet. He calls his navy on high alert, puts the main bulk of the French navy around the Western Mediterranean, and sends an extra 60 tanks and a infantry Brigade to Malta, as well as moving several flights of Raphael?s to what used to be Malta?s international airport, as well as some hastily prepared SAM sites. .

Several days later when the UK task force is set to enter the Mediterranean, the French issue an order that no UK group will be allowed into the Mediterranean unless closely escorted by the French navy. That night at 2 AM the Mod issues an emergency press release stating that there is suddenly intensive fighting in their region of Iraq, and an entire Battalion of men are threatened, and they are sending extra RAF fighters their to support them. French Radar detect several groups RAF jets, including the Euro fighter as well as other jets leav

RAF winning against armée de l'air above mediterranean sea? you must be joking... your national pride clouds your judgment.

and about naval air, harriers were already no match for french super etendard (within fuel range, not like argies ones), they are jokes for rafales, with hawkeyes support it would be a slaughter.

in this scenario, french would have : airdefense frigates, hawkeyes, rafales.
Unless the brits manage to bring on some frigates, NO CHANCES.

the real battle would be around gibraltar. French will try to blockade and not allow RN ships to come. french SSN and antisubmarines ships would deploy here, and they would probably lose this one, with losses on every side.

At the end, you would probably see a meditteranean sea controlled by british submarines only, the french controlling air space and though no RN surface ships could deploy.

a draw.

Yes, I think the RN would win too with its submarines, but it might become costly. Bringing in some carriers would help keep casualties down.

 

I'm not sure you're quite aware of how degraded the French airforce is becoming with every passing year..

BW mentioned the lack of depth in the Gib strait.

Finally some sense from him.

The area would have to be secured first.

 

On the other hand, the Rafale continues to suck and does not approximate a first-line fighter.

Ha. It makes sense seeing as that is my dream. To take a less militaristic point on this, France is the centerpeice of the EU. They are one step away from uniting already, so the least provocative and really most beneficial route is to unite the EU then move on to militaristic goals in creating a massive French Empire. However, your idea of this Empire would fall apart in a matter of months. It's too vast to occupy effectively and therefore will fall apart as Nationalism sets in. It would be the shortest lived Empire the world has ever seen.

You're dreaming. Western Europe is in relative decline to Eastern Europe. In a few decades Poland will be more influential than France. Not that the EU isn't bleeding out of its guts and crawling desperately towards some sort of constitution so it can get an override clause on the myriad parliament vetos.

 

And God of Gamblers... I'm not sure what promises the Czech had from the West, but Italy has treaties with Malta.