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Airfields R Us
Problem: A poor country with rickety infrastructure has just been shaken "like a Polaroid picture," making airlift relief very difficult.
Solution: Drive an airfield over and park it just off-shore.
Big-deck aircraft carriers: expensive, but darn well worth it.
You know what could work here that I'm now thinking about? If we had any recently decommissioned aircraft carriers sitting around (or even mothballed ones), why not spend some cash converting those to humanitarian aid ships? Thinking back on it, even WWII class ships (assuming their seaworthiness) would work out incredibly well here.
Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on January 15, 2010 11:16 AMActually,I believe the plan is to refer to all future carriers and similar as "Humanitarian Relief Vessels" to ensure Congressional support to build and maintain them.
Precision delivery in all weather conditions of relief supplies is guaranteed.
The costs involved would be astronomical (The retired CVs are in very poor material condition) Plus they need huge crews to operate.
If anything convert an LHA or LHD into a humanitarian aid ship would work better (You would be able to use the well deck landing craft to deliver aid faster and cheaper than helicopters freeing those up for other missions)
Posted by: jeff on January 16, 2010 09:44 AM