2 years for a sub and 3 for a carrier

"I believe the downtime for a mid-life refueling is a couple years"

😉

But that doesn't happen in the middle of military operation.

But we still extend?

I would imagine so

True, but it could happen before those operations occur

He needs opposition support for a GE

The ship could be in drydock during the start of the conflict

And the normally scheduled one is still years away

I don't see how he'll get a GE

You can plan the refuelling long ahead, and you can have plenty reserves to refuel years later if you absolutely need it now.

He won't @Hopix

That assumes you know when the conflict will start @leavethisbotnet

He would have to get a decent amount of opposition MP's to support him

It could happen after the 31st

The SNP already support a GE

The point is that the refuelling is controllable and outside of the operations area.

Labour could, possibly if Corbyn decides to follow his pledge to support a GE once the extension has been agreed

non-nuclear, chances are you're gonna have to stop to refuel mid operations

Diesel carriers also piss off enviromentalists so that is a plus

I don't think the Lib Dems or Greens will

You don't have to stop, the operation can continue while refuling occurs @leavethisbotnet

As it did in the Falklands conflict

Actually the Lib Dems could

nuclear refueling is strategic concern, whereas oil refuelling is tactical and operational concern

They stand to gain quite a lot of seats in a GE

US with its industrial capacity can deal with the strategic concern easier than UK

The refueling and supply process can occur at any time and does not significantly hinder the operations of the task force

The reason that US has exclusively nuclear is they have to think of a way to spend the ridiculous budget the military gets

True, since they have 11 carriers <:pot_of_kek:544849795433496586>

But, most countries aren't America

Of course, it's a balancing act. For UK, non nuclear was the right choice.

I think the F-35B was as well

@Hopix There's running speculation that they deliberately changed the font to Comic Sans for hate Tweets

Rather than putting in a catapult and buying C's

F-35 is one giant mistake altogether.

I think the MOW is sensible to constrain their ambitions for now

Well, it's better than the harriers we were operating

And it's the best on the market that meets our requirements

Though, I'd love to see a UK designed aircraft to go on them