A Bad Idea in Any Language

This is so obviously stupid on so many levels that we thought at first it was a rumor that would quickly be discredited. We already hate the CVF program, observing that the only real effect of the program is to prevent the Royal Navy from being an effective fighting force in the future, too expensive to operate with not enough escorts to be serious in the 21st century. This just makes the CVF that much worse.

“We all have budget constraints and we are looking to see how we can rationalise and reinforce our resources and work together,” commented a French diplomat who is close to the talks.

Both countries are facing a £2 billion shortfall in their defence budgets and the cost of the new carriers at just under £2 billion each is proving a major burden.

The “bilateral carrier group interoperability initiative” was proposed by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, at his summit meeting with Gordon Brown in London in March.

French sources suggest it could result in either navy borrowing an aircraft carrier from the other if their own was unavailable as a result of a breakdown or refit.

Why in the world would this even be considered?

Erulin pointed out that Britain and France could only borrow each other’s carriers if both countries agreed on the military objectives. “The only way for France to obtain an air carrier mission during a carrier refit is to ask a country at a political level to do this,” he said.

In other words, to build dependency, and this dependency is sold as a good idea. Clearly the entire concept of sovereignty is turned upside down when you are letting another country borrow your aircraft carrier. I've let my neighbor borrow my car before to run an errand, but isn't this different? Not if your a politician.

I guess the MoD didn't learn a thing when HMS Illustrious (R06) couldn't get out of port, completely ignoring the necessity of keeping ships in good condition.

Lets stop pretending the MoD is taking the Defense of England seriously, how can anyone say this is the idea of an adult taking national defense seriously when the strategy is to share the most expensive conventional weapon of your national defense.

Does this mean the CVF is getting catapults after all? This idea is so ridiculous that it will probably happen.