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What if: Britain and France got along better, have been pooling their military R&D budgets since the 1980s, and both collectively decided they wanted super carriers to replace the Invincible class and [edit]Clamenceau-class[/edit]. And not half way house job like the Queen Elizabeth class, but as close to what America has as they can manage.

How close could they get?

The only way this could possibly be paid for is if the original euro-fighter project held together. Some kind of deal would have had to be done to split the two projects. Given that the French have the only ports big enough to build this ship, they reluctantly concede ECA leadership in exchange for Rolls Royce technical assistance with the M88. Eurofighter is intended to have 4 tranches this time round, with T2 and T4 being the 'low tech' and 'high tech' carrier variants.

To save money they may wish to see if there's an existing hull form they can borrow, and the Queen Mary 2 seems to have one. 345m long, 41 wide, and able to displace 150,000tons, with a top speed of 30 knots. Close enough. Plenty of excess capacity to make modifications. Internally construction would be double-hulled, built to military spec, and with a fairly severe form of compartmentalization.

Power is provided by two RR PWR3 90MW nuclear reactors (90MW electrical, 225MW thermal, each) built with french assistance from DCNS. ITAR and past US assistance rears it's ugly head, and causes a couple of delays, but nothing serious.

Long range sensors are provided by BAE's S1850M while a 4-face varient of the Selex EMPAR provides close range capability. Short range defense is provided by an A-43 Sylver launcher fitted with Aster-15 and Crotale VT1 missiles. This is backed up by three Oerlikon 35mm Millennium Gun CIWS turrets.

Principle strike aircraft is of course the T2 and T4 Typhoon/Typhon. The ship's extra ten meters of length over the nimitz isn't a big advantage here due to the EF-2000's lack of folding wings. Similarly E-2 Hawkeyes are the logical choice for an AWACS craft. Provision is made for a future UCAVs based on the Mantis and Neuron prototypes. The two nations may well choose to agree to disagree about helicopters, with the UK going for Merlin and France for Eurocopter.

Some of the cost of this project could be salvaged by reusing components in other warships (the PWR3 in British and French submarines) and a reduction in duplication of efforts (Albion/Mistral or Type-45/Horizon).
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