“These ships are undetectable by radar, highly mobile, and, in the event of enemy attack, can be easily replaced with a foot pump and a bit of patience,” he said.
Captain on standby for the jets
That’s the grin of a man getting “blown” by the air hostess 😄
In order to make them more stealthy they will be camouflaged in the shape of a duck with an orange beak and yellow body.
A Downing Street source suggested that if successful, this scheme could be expanded to include inflatable army tanks and fighter jets, allowing for a fully air-powered military by 2035.
Inflatable tanks are a real thing as decoys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_tank
Inflatable dummies consisted of a fabric covering supported by a network of pressurized rubber tubes that formed a kind of “pneumatic skeleton”. These were generally preferred in the field, despite their tendency to rapidly deflate if punctured by accident or shellfire. In one operation in September 1944, the British deployed 148 inflatable tanks close to the front line and around half were “destroyed” by fragments from German mortar and artillery fire, and by Allied bombs falling short.[9]
EDIT: In fact, if the British Army keeps any in inventory, they might have more inflatable tanks than they do real tanks at this point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_equipment_of_the_British_Army
Challenger 2 is currently being modernised and reduced to 148 upgraded Challenger 3 by 2027.[154][155]
I feel like that is kind of part of what makes this joke so funny, it is a joke but it also it really desperately isn’t the more you think about it which is undeniably absurd.
The more expensive the equipment the more genius idea it is to produce blowup mockup decoys. The cost to benefit analysis is astronomically in favor of spending a bit on big blowup floaties if there is even a chance the deception will work.
For example if you put a 30 foot blowup skeleton in your yard, most people who aren’t experts in D&D will not know it isn’t actually a real skeleton demon. Try it yourself! I don’t recommend trying this at home with decoys of Cruise Missile launchers however.
So glad I noticed this was posted yesterday before I made my original comment, that would’ve been embarrassing
Great April fool!
Why didn’t we think of this sooner!?! There are so many advantages to inflatable warships. Lower cost, easier repair, less destructive to the environment, less harmful to people.
Guy I knew back in college had an inflatable sheep he’d take to parties…
Maybe we should all carry inflatable military gear, so when ICE comes for us, they will be intimidated by our Battleship, or Tank or Amphibious Landing Craft, etc, and just go away.
This is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind!
I do recall Thomas Jefferson’s screed on inflatable armory; truly inspiring.
It always seemed pretty stupid to make boats of out something that doesn’t float when have had this technology for centuries.
