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1) The JSF has NOT achieved operational status yet.

2) The plans for the carriers (UK) that will have the F-35s are just past design status. The real information is that the UK will have 2 of them while France will get 1, and that the British hope to fly F-35 JSFs off them while the French will go with the naval Rafale variant. The carriers will nto be chugging towards Venezuela for quite a number of years, and they are still in the twinkle-twinkle stage still (i.e. design plans).

3) Chavez has been purchasing a bunch of weaponry that could (particularly the missile types) threaten surface combatants. Again, Hugo would not win (and any surface combatant he put out in the sea would face Brit subs, and there are few things as lethal as a British submariner in a British Submarine looking to introduce some hapless soul to Davy Jones). But he could still be able to harass the British taskgroup, and he would definitely sink more ships than the Argies did all those years back. Definitely.

And with the current climate in Britain, even the loss of one ship would have all the peaceniks stepping over each other to be the first to start marching the streets. Hugo may have a fool's deck of cards, but it is currently stronger than what the Brits have (not in terms of capability, but in terms of political leverage .....it is similar to the stunt the Iranians pulled with the British sailors when they kidnapped them like they were mere tots. In terms of capability the Brits are far ahead ...goodness, they have nuclear SLBMs in missile boats patrolling beneath the sea ....but in terms of political leverage Hugo has the Brits by the b@lls!)

It would be interesting to see what would happen if they went off against Venezuela after bringing troops from Iraq ....I doubt any current British politician would risk his political career like that. And what is ironic is that France's Sarkozy would probably smite Hugo across the face LONG before any current British politician even thought of sending a sub to sniff-sniff along Venezuela's coast.

Hugo may have a fool's deck of cards, but it is currently stronger than what the Brits have (not in terms of capability, but in terms of political leverage .....it is similar to the stunt the Iranians pulled with the British sailors when they kidnapped them like they were mere tots. In terms of capability the Brits are far ahead ...goodness, they have nuclear SLBMs in missile boats patrolling beneath the sea ....but in terms of political leverage Hugo has the Brits by the b@lls!)

Thanks for the information. When rhetoric meets reality think, Rachel Corrie, think Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, think Saddam Hussein.

and there are few things as lethal as a British submariner in a British Submarine looking to introduce some hapless soul to Davy Jones

Concur. Though they take quite a while to go from drawing board- well, computer screens ,now- to shakedown cruise, and Brit reactor designs of the recent past have not been terribly successful over the long run.

S119, HMS Astute, namesake of her class, was launched 08 June 2007 and is scheduled for her Commissioning in 2009, to hopefully be followed by sisters Ambush in 2010 and Artful in 2012. A fourth hull, S122, is to be laid down this year, to be given the name Audacious. After that, the Brits have the option of either building four more Astute-class boats,or going with a new design.