The Royal Navy is experiencing a revival of its historical glories in recent months: the backbone of the fleet sailed on May 22 from the British Isles to head to the Far East and bring the British flag back to Singapore and then to Japan, in the waters of to which the English gunboats once dictated the law. This is not a parade for its own sake, it is not a nostalgia operation: this display of strength expresses a complex strategy, with which London strengthens the “special relationship” with Washington, responds to the American call for a greater presence in the Asia-Pacific sector to contain Chinese expansionism, but also expresses the British will to play an autonomous world role, which was one of the great promises (or ambitions?) of Brexit: away from the suffocating embrace of the European Union, the United United will once again be a great planetary power.
This, at least, in the ambitions, which may or may not be realized: they must be commensurate with the actual forces available and various political realities at every level, local and global. The new issue of Limes magazine dedicates two articles to the Royal Navy’s mission in the Far East but also dedicates others to the problematic perspectives of the post-Brexit United Kingdom, so problematic that the issue is entitled “The Disunited Kingdom”. The possibility of a Scottish secession is not political fiction, the fate of Northern Ireland comes into question with Brexit, together with that of Ireland as a whole, and it is complex to assess what the American position would be in the face of such developments.
The fact remains that from England – and from France – the world does not see itself as it does from Italy: keep in mind the strong political, economic and military ties with dozens of former colonies (empires are no longer colored red or blue on the geography of the world, but in a sense they continue to exist), add the possession of large ocean fleets, missile submarines and nuclear weapons, then give us two permanent veto seats on the UN Security Council, and the prospect of joining the EU will not seem very attractive to you: England has rejected it in toto, and France is aiming at it only just enough to harness Germany and create a critical mass of European allies behind it to weigh more in the world, but with no intention of canceling its national identity in the Union.
Italy is involved in the British magnitude programs not on the naval front, but on the aeronautical one: it is allied with the United Kingdom (and Sweden) in the sixth generation Tempest fighter project, intended to replace the current Typhoon (which is classified of “fourth generation and a half”) and to support the F35 (fifth generation). In Europe there is also an alternative project of France, Germany and Spain, and in the rest of the world the sixth generation of fighters are being worked on in America, Russia and China. Italy’s choice of field in the direction of the United Kingdom was suggested by the interpenetration of the industries of the two countries in some essential technological sectors in view of the development of a fighter, such as avionics (i.e. electronics applied to aircraft) and missiles. . Many industry analysts believe it makes sense for the two European programs to merge, but this is not the case for now.