[sukhoi-30mki]

Principe de Asturias

[Paladin2]

Looks small.

[AppyPappy]

Harrier Carrier

[rottndog]

What exactly is the current military threat to Spain? Other than prestige, why do they need a carrier?

[mongo141]

Well then they will have more money to spend on social programs and they know that the Soviets, or the Chinese will defend them in return for “favors”.

[tet68]

I’m sorry but I find that bow oddly attractive,
rather sexy looking, that tapering bow, those
round anchor ports...

[Paperpusher]

You call THAT an aircraft carrier, THIS is an aircraft carrier.

[Trueblackman]

Okay Guys and Gals, you can make allot of jokes about the Spanish Navy and their Harrier Carrier, but these Guys have a set of Iron Twins as I have seen them in action first hand and they can nuts to sink several ships, if they had too. These crazy SOBs come screaming in 20-30 feet off the water carrying anti-ship Missiles and one of the main reasons they have Harrier Carries is because under NATO, they along with Italy are tasked with NATO’s Anti-Sub efforts.

[Secret Agent Man]

With the muslim populations rising in europe and soon to be major minorities or even majorities in a couple decades, it may not be a bad thing that european countries can’t afford their militaries and the necessary equipment that could wind up attacking us under a caliphate’s rule there.

[hosepipe]

Spain needs a Navy?...... WHY?..

[DesScorp]

The Asturias is basically a carbon copy of the Sea Control Ship that Elmo Zumwalt proposed in the 70’s when he was CNO, as part of his “High-Low” package, an idea that I think we should seriously take another look at. In short, it means that we achieve high fleet numbers by not just buying the uber-expensive capital ships, but supplementing them with lots of smaller cheaper ships that could do some jobs more cost-effictively, but do the job well. Zumwalt’s plan called for 8 of these VSTOL carriers to patrol sea lanes doing basic fighter patrol and helicopter anti-sub ops. When the ill-fated XFV-12 didn’t work out, they planned to use an American copy of the Sea Harrier. Big flatop guys wouldn’t have it though, and fought behind the scenes to kill off anything that wasn’t a Nimitz class.

Only two of Zumwalt’s proposed ship classes from this project actually made it into production. The Pegasus Class hydrofoils were built, but only six of them, and the Navy never really supported the program, doing everything they could to kill. The Perry Class frigates, however, were the most numerous post-WWII class of ship to be built until the Burke destroyers came along.

[A.A. Cunningham]

061007-N-3888C-001 Gulf of Lion (Oct. 7, 2005) - An AV-8B Harrier II takes off from the flight deck of Spanish aircraft carrier SPS (Strategic Protection Ship) Principe de Asturias (R 11) during an air defense exercise as part of NATO Exercise Brilliant Midas 2006. Brilliant Midas is a multinational exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, where guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) is the flagship for Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG-2). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Leonardo Carrillo (RELEASED)