...The United Kingdom has the largest air force and navy in the European Union and the second largest in NATO, is one of only five recognised nuclear powers, and is deemed to have the second highest power projection capability behind the United States. In terms of gross tonnage the Royal Navy is the second largest navy in NATO. It possesses an array of ships, such as ballistic missile submarines, aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, guided missile destroyers and nuclear powered submarines. Apart from the United States Navy, it is the only navy in the process of acquiring supercarriers.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6914788.stm The UK also possesses a large air force which has—and is in the process of procuring—some of the most advanced aircraft in the world, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Lightning II multirole combat aircraft, and C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft.The British Army has amongst some of the best trained troops and the most advanced equipment, such as Challenger II main battle tanks and Apache Longbow attack helicopters. Read full entry
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- The armed forces of the United Kingdom, known as His/Her Majesty's Armed Forces ... The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its ...
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Could the United Kingdom and I know that the Soviet Union
broke up in 1991 and the
Warsaw Pact crumbled but say
that hypothetically it still
existed and was on the verge
of conflict, could the United
Kingdom armed forces of today,
slimmed down as they are hope
to defend Europe and the UK
itself? what of the Americans
and other allies? would they
stand a chance?
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hey have written a thesis on "cold war defence logistics of NATO", never looked at it from a purely UK point of view though, Firstly it depends entirely on what you mean by "survive" and a "attack" (a bit of history) at the start of the cold war it was felt by the west that large standing armies such as those found in WW2 were outmoded and obsolete the theory went that smaler more technologically advancedmilitaryy units were the way forward ie (less tanks to pay for but packing a heavier punch) the warsaw pact and russia went in almost theoppositee direction, large standing armies that were not as advanced (a old bullet will kill you just as well as new one) so if the russian federation or in your question a resurgent soviet union were to invade the west NATO tanks would at last count have to take out 10 russian tanks each, without loss to themselves,just to achieve parity with the russians, (a highly unlikely scenario even with superior technology!) thankfully NATO's tactics were never tested and to call them tactics is laughable all that was expected of NATO was to slow up the Russians with a heavy rate of attrition and bunch them together so they would make a good target for tactical nuclear weapons. that's it. that's all nato could hope for. and for a long time all it was trained to do. should the russians invade the life expectancy in the FEBA (forward edge of battle area) for a british infanteer was measured in minutes for a ground Attack pilot it would have been seconds. as mentioned earlier there is no standing army to re lie on so once NATO had used its forces then the rest of europe is defenceless.(there was a plan called REFORGER to use ships to transport tanks and soldiers from america to europe to replace war losses but it was a cumbersome beast and in all likely hood most ships would be sunk by russian submarines leaving NATO to use up its prepositioned war stocks which gave us two weeks of fighting supplies.) so the overwhelming majority of the british army would be destroyed in germany same for the bundeswher and the french if they dained to join in. your question asks would The uk survive? almost certainly not! remember the plan was to use our conventional army to "bottle neck" ivan and hit him with nuclear weapons the russians would surely retaliate and use there own nuclear weapons to take out probably american airbases in britain and germany and from then on it would escalate into the apocalypse. the americans would unfortunately be the best chance to stop the russians (in a purely conventional war) but would also find themselves at risk of nuclear attack. it was thankfully never tested but america always pledged to retaliate on non nuclear NATO members behalf should they be nuked, the long and short of it all is that very quickly any fight between NATO and the warsaw pact would end in nuclear warfare and the possible destruction of the UK and America its a simple theory but the best answear is not to fight the bloody russians! |
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Which nation has the most Would you say that the United
Kingdom is still a relevant
power, especially in regards
to the navy? or has the
British Armed forces declined
too much over the years?
Cheers for answering.
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Britains Naval power may have declined, but we no longer have an Empire to Guard, and the Cold War has now drawn to a close. The need for frigates and destroyers has been replaced by the need for amphibious ships to get troops ashore, air power via aircraft carriers to protect troops and project air power globally and our forces have moved away from being mainly tasked with defending the German plains from a Soviet Advance and ensuring the North Atlantic Shipping lanes to that of a Global Rapid Reaction Expeditionary Force. British sea power has traditionally been important from the days of wooden boats and cannons through to the battleships of WW2 and more recently in the Falklands War, but the very nature of warfare is constantly evolving, and to become too sentimental and nostalgic serves little purpose. One of the best articles on the Subject is 'Wasted Warships' by Defence Analyst and Journalist Lewis Page, himself an Ex-Royal Navy Officer. http://www.prospect-magazine.c o.uk/article_details.php?id=58 29 |
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United States and United Can both the U.S. and U.K.
(Great Britain) take on China
in a Conventional War if they
decide to invade? The 2 most
powerful and the most
technologically advanced Armed
Forces on earth combined,
taking on definitely the
biggest on their its soil.
Please note: No Nuclear
Weapons will be used by either
side.
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Good question. The use of technology would have to be the most predominant factor in a war against China, I believe their military is probably larger than the population of the US and UK combined (maybe only a slight exaggeration). |
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