For a better perspective of future world scenario. India, China and US would potentially be the only 3 navies with strong Blue water capabilities.
France 'stunned' by UK navy cuts
06 June 2011
Cuts to the Royal Navy left French officials "stunned", the head of the French Navy has said.
Admiral Pierre-Francois Forissier told the Daily Telegraph that France had been surprised by the cuts made in 2010's Strategic Defence and Security Review which had stripped Britain of its carrier strike capability until at least 2019.
"From a French standpoint, I have to say that we were really stunned because the Royal Navy has always been a model for us and it is now faced with a very difficult situation," Forissier said.
The UK has recently sent its helicopter carrier HMS Ocean to conduct operations in Libya, but Forissier said the UK would be 'more efficient' if it still had carrier strike capability.
"If the UK did have another aircraft carrier in the Libyan theatre that would have been a support for the RAF because they would need less hours of travel and they would have been more efficient," he said.
"When you only have one carrier that means you don't have permanent availability because of maintenance issues and, of course, it would be better to have two carriers."
Last year the UK and France signed a major defence cooperation treaty, and Forissier said that when both of the UK's new aircraft carriers are complete, the second should be kept and shared between the UK and France for training purposes.
The government has suggested it is looking to sell the carrier on rather than keep it, having ordered the build to go ahead due to contractual obligations which would have made it more expensive to cancel the carrier than to complete it.
"If we have the necessary budget it would be useful to each have a national carrier then have an extra carrier — not as expensive and for training uses — for UK and French use," Forissier said.
"It would be useful to have a carrier in Europe for training pilots, otherwise we would need two carriers on both sides and I do not think this is economically feasible."
He also suggested British jets could fly off French carriers saying that it was "the nationality of the aircraft" that was important.
"Potentially in future you could have UK aircraft operating for a UK mission from a French base," he said.