In a letter to the Times, a group of former Royal Navy admirals have called for the reversal of the decision to scrap the Ark Royal and the fleet of Harrier jets. The admirals argue that the decision leaves the "newly valuable" Falklands Islands vulnerable to attack, and that "Argentina is practically invited to attempt to inflict on us a national humiliation on the scale of the loss of Singapore." The letter is said to reflect the deep anger felt in the navy over the cuts, where there is widespread agreement that Britain will face national humiliation.In light of the coalition government's spending review, the letter concluded that the Prime Minister was ill-advised, as the Tornado fleet will, over a period of ten years, cost over seven times more than the Harrier fleet.
In response, the government's Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey, told the BBC's Today Programme that the Falklands could still be protected without an aircraft carrier. Mr Harvey also insisted that the Tornado was the correct aircraft for the Afghan conflict, and that the decision was taken in light of a detailed investigation that took on board a balance of advice from military leadership.
A further consequence of the cuts is that no planes will be able to fly from British carriers until at least 2019, which means that the Britain will require warning to respond to any military attack. On this capability gap, the admirals commented that "The government has, in effect, declared a new '10-year rule' that assumes Britain will have warning time to rebuild to face a threat."
