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This is a political gesture; it has little military significance. Their carrier, if they decide to deploy it, would be used either for helicopters or for Harriers. Their carrier is not large enough to carry full sized jets (such as the F/A-18 Hornet) and it doesn't carry many aircraft in any case. That would be MM Garibaldi, which at 14,000 tons displacement is about a third the size of a US Wasp-class amphibious assault ship such as USS Bataan at 40,500 tons. (They carry about the same number of aircraft because Wasp-class ships are primarily oriented towards launching landing craft.) MM Garibaldi can carry 18 helicoptors or 16 AV-8B Harriers or a mix of the two. The Harrier has a range of 1700 miles, which means it has an effective combat range of about 700 miles without mid-air refueling. It's what they have, but it's not clear it's very important. USS Enterprise is about to leave the area now that USS Roosevelt has arrived, but between them the three US carriers remaining (Roosevelt, Vinson, and Kittyhawk) will deploy about 150 jets capable of launching attacks. Their offer of ground troops is equally token. Their "armored regiment" consists of 390 men; in the US military a formation that size would be a battalion. If indeed we begin ground operations in Afghanistan, we're going to be needing somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 men on the ground minimum, and in any case deployments like that won't happen until next year if at all. (With any luck that won't be needed.) Moreover, this would not be an armored war; it's going to be a war fought primarily by light infantry. If we do fight on the ground, it will probably be the 82nd, the 101st and the 10th divisions doing most of the work. Still, politically this is indeed an important move, though it's not clear who it's most important for. I do rather wish the offer had been more substantial, though. (discuss) The UK is probably going to offer about a thousand men to help in a ground assault, but these will be Marines and Special forces. |
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