On 4 June 2012, an official representative of the Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Military, criticized the plans of the United States, to send 60% of U.S. naval forces to the Asia Pacific region by 2020.

Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey, stated that the Royal Navy, let alone other European navies, will not be ready to pick up the slack in the Atlantic, by 2020.

The United Kingdom has been slashing and burning its military budget.  The Ministry of Defence revealed that in the past three years $26.2 billion USD of military equipment has been scrapped!

Harvey said it will take time to rebuild their navy in order to fill the void when the U.S. sails most of its fleet to Asia:  “When we’re back in the carrier strike game we could pull more weight, [but] if Europe is to take more responsibility, we’ve got some way to go.”