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Subject: French and British Navys in 2017
usajoe    8/20/2007 4:51:10 AM
Right now the british have a small edge as the top navy in europe, but 10 years from now the French second aircraft carrier to complement the nuclear Charles de Gaulle, Horizon Destroyers,Fremm multipurpose frigates,and the 1st Barracuda ssn will come into service along with the Rafales, and E-2C Hawkeyes. the British will have their 2 new Queen Elizabeth class carrieres,Type-45 Destroyers,Astute Class ssn, and the F-35 replacing the Harriers. So on paper bolth will have simmler capabilities, and size, the same as now but with more Global projection power,and the difference then as is now will be British naval tactics and training which i think is just a tad bit better, and that is what I think is going to keep them the number 1 navy in europe.
 
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Nichevo       9/25/2007 7:30:22 PM
Ah, I see.  I thought operating craft from a deck park was quite common.  I guess tarps don't cut it ;>
 
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Phaid       9/26/2007 10:51:03 AM
I don't buy the C-130, or even C-27J, sized CVW aircraft at all.  It's so big you can only have a couple, which inevitably means you won't have any when you need it.  Folding fuselage, folding wings, etc, all add weight and complexity and logistics and mmh/fh.

Any mission that one of those things can do, can better be done one of two ways: distributed among a larger number of tactical-sized aircraft, or done by larger land-based aircraft.

E.g. Hawkeyes work really well because they datalink their feeds to the AAWC ship's CIC, so there is no real need for a bigger aircraft to house more consoles.  And you can carry enough that you can guarantee you'll always have one airborne when you need it.

I still think the right thing to do would have been more S-3s, and replace the E-2 with an AEW S-3 variant.  The airframe is tough, simple, and reliable, and the aircraft's endurance and performance is perfect for basically any mission that a non-tactical-speed aircraft can do from a CV.  And it's small enough that you can have 8-10 of them, like we did in the 80s with the 90-some-odd aircraft CVWs, without impacting the current 50-striker air wing at all.

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Phaid       9/26/2007 11:24:27 AM
Nichevo    Ah, I see.  I thought operating craft from a deck park was quite common.  I guess tarps don't cut it ;>

There is no problem operating aircraft from deck spots.  In fact, in the 80s when the USN maintained 90-aircraft air wings, over half the air wing had to be parked on deck simply due to space constraints.  Even today we still do that.  The planes are designed to be operated in all kinds of harsh environments, so as long as they're chained down properly and given a modicum of protection via inlet covers and the like, everything is fine.

The problem comes when you have to do complex maintenance on an aircraft.  You aren't going to change an engine on the flight deck.  For that, you need to take the aircraft below.  Likewise, you aren't going to want to open all the access panels to replace some complex piece of avionics while sitting up on deck in the middle of a storm.
 
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