NationStates Jolt Archive


Isselmere-Nieland to join the space arms race?

Isselmere
22-01-2004, 21:57
The newly elected Conservative government will follow its predecessor in embarking on spendthrift projects. Today, Minister of Defence Julian Hornby announced a request for proposals for a class of combat-capable space vehicles, the first of which to be laid down in 2025.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are incensed. "The economy can't support it," announced Herman Naseby, Lib. Dem. shadow minister of defence. "Hell, the existing security forces can barely defend us. Better to spend it on conventional arms first." The spokeswoman for Labour, Lucinda Winthorpe, agrees. "Children here receive a substandard education, the health care system is crumbling, and those fools want to build spaceships? Sheer incompetence." The measure is also generating resistance from Conservative backbenchers. An anonymous spokesperson indicated about 27 members were ready to vote against the appropriation bill, effectively quashing it. "It's purely asinine."

The proposed vessel would be built in orbit using similar techniques to submarine construction, and would have nuclear propulsion. The estimated cost of construction, barring the cost of research and development and transporting materials into orbit, will be about 50 billion lethses--the cost of ten aircraft carriers.