Southampton--July 7, 2011--The UK Public Accounts Committee has bared its fangs over the disastrous decision last October to scrap the current UK aircraft carrier capability, leaving a gap whilst new carrier capability is constructed over the next ten years.

Interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 today, the chairperson of the PAC - Labour MP Margaret Hodge - was critical of the decision making process within the Government and of the fact that the National Audit Office had been denied access to relevant documents on the grounds of national security, apparently in contravention of the rules under which the NAO operates.

The Strategic Defence Review in October 2010 also resulted in changes to the aircraft carrier design to handle the new US F35-C Lightning - an additional variant of a new US VTOL fighter-bomber.

James Marinero has projected the problems arising from the changes in the Royal Navy’s carrier capability, with the UK being caught short recently in Libya; he has also written about Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navy - "PLAN" (including building new carrier capability) and Intelligence (Golden Shield) programs and the rapid expansion of China's blue-water naval fleet. Indeed, he has suggested that, in the face of changing world threats with the West focusing on asymmetric terrorism, the vacuum in the traditional superpower face-off created by the demise of the USSR is being quickly filled by China.

This is explored in ‘Gate of Tears’, which culminates in NATO-Chinese confrontation in the Middle East, with the new British and US carriers and the F35-C Lightning facing the new Chinese J20 Chengdu ‘Annihilator’ VTOL stealth aircraft over this strategically critical strait - the ‘Gate of Tears’ or Bab el Mandeb - which is a major oil conduit, and only 20 miles wide. James Marinero has worked in many countries and many industries; with science and business degrees, and over 20 years in IT - from dairies to investment trading - and a lifetime love of the sea, he has great stories to tell.

http://www.jamesmarinero.com
http://www.gateoftears.com

Contact: The Editor at wavecrest email
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