Persistent Engagement and Strategic Raiding
Author | : Disharth Kaushal |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 62 |
Release | : 2020 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1228053647 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (47 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The imminent arrival to initial operating capability of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers leaves the Royal Navy at an inflection point. While the strategic and operational environment prevailing at present is radically different from the environment in which the carriers were first conceived, the platforms retain the ability to evolve in a way that will provide policymakers with highly flexible capability in the coming decades. In order to do this, however, new concepts of employment and operations will need to be adopted to better match the strengths of the carriers to the changing operating environment while offsetting their weaknesses. The critical question that this paper answers is how the UK’s carrier strike capability can be leveraged to effect in an era of persistent competition. This will, in turn, drive a number of work strands for the Royal Navy in the coming years with respect to force design, procurement and the C4ISR architecture of the UK Strike Force. RUSI has conducted an analysis of the ways that the Navy can leverage the potential of its aircraft carriers in the context of a strategic environment characterised by persistent competition.