reply to post by Asktheanimals
Its not just the Clyde! There are shipyards capable of building naval vessels on near enough every coast of the nation, and yet, rather than create
jobs in our own nation, rather than support British industry , plough resources into our nations boat yards and ailing steel industry, rather than do
that, we have outsourced our navy's biggest construction projects to a nation whose only contribution to the world has been Romans (yeah , thanks
guys), pizza, and fat plumbers who turn up , and then rather than fixing the pipes, go off on mad adventures.
If the new carrier rolls up to Plymouth or wherever, and we find Bowser chained up below decks, getting in the way of all the aircraft (that we
cannot afford to put on the damned thing right now anyway) then maybe our leaders will learn a lesson. Worst you get left over when British engineers
have been working is some left over tea bags and the odd beard hair.
My point is, that it is utterly outrageous to me, that any nation would use foreign built arms and vehicles , or indeed materials to BUILD those
things out of. Its not a matter of protectionism, this is about sovereign nations having a responsibility to look after their national security
affairs. The only way to effectively ensure the secrecy and security of a project of this scale is to deal with it on ones own doorstep, using
material and parts made by companies and organisations within your own borders, over whom some decent oversight can be maintained.
This is why I am shocked and appalled by the stance the US is taking over the provision and construction of its wartech. Do not get me wrong,
although both my Grandfathers were men of war, and although I respect them, and the efforts they made immensely , I have never had any urge to join my
nations military, mostly because I do not trust the politicians who get to order them to war, to make morally lead choices about when or if to deploy
forces in the first place.
However, I recognise that those men and women who fight for my nation , do so under the pretext that they are the people who do these things, so that
their spouses, their children, their friends and neighbours need not do so. Therefore, when someone is sent to fight in the name of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain, I demand that they be provided with the most up to date, trustworthy, hard wearing, and effective vehicles and equipment that it is
possible to make. I also believe that in the interests of keeping designs, specifications, weaknesses and strengths a secret, the only legitimate
place to make ANY item carried by one of our war fighters is right here , in the UK.
I believe the same applies to the US. China, is a hideously corrupt nation, and all it would take is someone paying someone else off, and all of a
sudden the people the US is fighting against have the tech manual for the weapons carried, or the parts in their radio comms gear. The very idea is
absolutely ridiculous. I think the current establishment in the US and the UK could learn an awful lot from their counterparts from yesteryear in
terms of keeping their cards close to their chest.
In summary, the US seems intent on putting its service persons at risk of faulty goods, intelligence leaks regarding the workings and parts used in
their gear, AND seems intent on embuggering the weapons and equipment manufacturers within its own borders, simply because of cost. This is an
absolute disgrace. It will cost the US an awful lot of money to put the failings of the Chinese manufacturing process right, and meanwhile things will
be going wrong for people on the ground. My angle here is , if you cannot afford to properly equip the number of men and women currently deployed,
then deploy less people, but arm those people properly. The numbers wont tell nearly as much if the gear they are carrying is doing the work its meant
to.