| As the shipbuilding industry faces
up to redundancies on the Clyde, a senior MOD source conceded that the shortage of orders
stemmed from a design fault endemic in naval shipbuilding: "Destroyers are just too
difficult to destroy. We've really just got to wait for them to wear out, which takes ages
and ages." While the spokesfunnel conceded that it might be unwise
to depend on military expenditure underwritten by the state to keep people in work he saw
no alternative: "Our naval defences are absolutely vital for guarding the Northern
approaches against the perfidious Hun. And those damnable Frenchies come to that."
There is however a solution in the offing. Top defence
boffin Rear Admiral Beaker of St.Andrew's Department of Bang Bang Studies argues that
waiting for the naval ships to wear out isn't a sustainable option. |
"Look at the Bosnian war, when
loads of munitions were used up in one go. What we need is an ongoing naval battle
opportunity to get our ships damaged or destroyed. Perhaps our American allies could
help." Professor Beaker went on to outline a possible scenario where
UK destroyers could act as targets for the new US NMD system,
"All that would be required is for the ships to
be positioned directly in the initial launch trajectory of the US anti-missile er,
missile. That way there'd be an outside chance of the ships being hit before the US rocket
veers off course and takes out the Arran ferry. Again…" |
