The changing face of ‘war’.
The USS Gerald Ford is finally off on sea trials. But there is some confusion. We are advised that the final cost is some $17.5 billion. Now that would exclude everything you could name. And we are aware that the hull alone cost $12.5 billion. So let’s have a reasonable guess and suggest, fully loaded and with all the “you beaut” aircraft and the best toys around, we have a floating lemon tricked up to say a trillion dollars.
Some of those bombers are a billion a piece. And we know what junk the B1 and B2 are. And the monopoly missile and weapons contractors don’t really do deals. Don’t believe what you are hearing from Lockheed Martin about the FA-35 super lemon. And the great F22 was even condemned by Rand Corporation.
There is a further problem. It needs lots of protection from many vessels. And the operational costs would border on the horrendous.
The terrible thing is two Russian weapons for which it has no defence. It can’t even detect them. The lesser of the two is The Super Cavitation Torpedo. But for a really good show, to lift the little demon clear out of the water and deposit it back as powder, (a little like 911) there is The Hypervelocity Missile. Russia is somewhat shy and admits to Mach 30. Which is about 6 kms. a second.
And as they say, ” by the time you hear the Incomng alarm, it will be the last sound you ever hear.”
Just as well Tillerson ran off to Moscow to play kissy arse. He can do his John Wayne impersonation for the MSM addicted. But that isn’t Parkinson’s symptoms Little Rex is exhibiting.
The Gerald Ford Class is tipped to replace The Nimitz Class. But, I doubt Uncle Sam will be able to pass the credit rating check. So America will either limp on, or go carrier- free into the future. Moving an airfield to a place of conflict, in the missile age, is beyond ridiculous. But this is America. And still holding the notions of controlling sea lanes. Even though The British Empire and The Spanish Empire gave up that stupidity many, many years ago.
Just a Nimitz Class Carrier alone, without any support vessels or its air arm, costs $4 million per day, tied to a wharf. When cruising; it costs $24 million per day. If it goes into battle mode, bring out the phone book. They need in the vicinity of 5,000 crew to operate them. And as boys will be boys, they average one murder per week.
This is just one weapons platform. Trying to maintain the illusion of world policeman, with a debt back home in excess of $19 trillion, with no one interested in buying your bonds, taking your worthless currency, or suffering your confiscatory taxation system or punitive regularity demands, doesn’t look like there are going to be any ‘real’ wars on the horizon. Looting and printing paper assets doesn’t work anymore.
Beyond that, I am unable to determine the value of aggression.
Text by G Squared. Editing by Martin H.
