A 65,000-ton aircraft carrier that cost £6.2 billion and £96 million a year to keep defends itself with three Gatling guns that reach about two kilometers and nothing that fires farther, leans on destroyers its navy is short of, and keeps getting sunk in exercises

A 65,000-ton aircraft carrier that cost £6.2 billion and £96 million a year to keep defends itself with three Gatling guns that reach about two kilometers and nothing that fires farther, leans on destroyers its navy is short of, and keeps getting sunk in exercises

The 65,000-ton aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister HMS Prince of Wales cost £96 million a year each to maintain, fly F-35Bs off a ski jump with no catapult or arresting gear, and depend on Type 45 destroyers' Sea Viper missiles for air defense. The MoD is putting £240 million into drones for a hybrid air wing.