UK vs French military: Who'd win that war? (2021)

it is the summer of 2021 what if french and british post-brexit accusations lead to incidents right of passage arguments and accidents with lives lost one thing leads to another and the situation spirals out of control escalating to chaos fighter jets and warships start firing all-out war breaks out through such a grim premise this video will explore the real world armed forces of the two belligerents as well as real strategic issues both would come across in such an unlikely war who is stronger watch to find out before france and uk duke it out in our video a reminder from our sponsor war planet online where i made a base in the uk and i'm about to unleash hell on my neighbors war planet online is a free-to-play real-time strategy game happening on a detailed real world map the game lets you conquer your neighbors or even the whole world though for the latter alliances with various factions are key you pick your commanders nurture their skills and craft gear for your army building up your base is crucial that enables you to acquire ever better units which are inspired by real life weapon systems there are armored assault and aerial units to pick from and all can be upgraded to help you win wars click on the link below the video to try out war planet online pink viewers are getting a gift all new users will get 3 33 t1 tanks for free game is available via apple's app store google play windows app store or from samsung galaxy store huawei app gallery or steam binkov already did a friends versus uk video but that was five years ago feel free to check it out to see just how much has changed the rules of the scenario are no nukes no outside interference or help and the same starting morale the english channel would make sure that the conflict is largely confined to air and sea battles going for a large-scale land invasion on either side's mainland would be suicidal as both sides could master only a small landing force compared to the defensive force that would be waiting for it the air war would break out first as planes are the quickest to react initial fights over the channel would be bloody neither side has many combat jet bases ready due to peacetime consolidations the french do have more planes overall and slightly more dispersed forces both sides are in the midst of modernizing their fleets with newer weapons there are perhaps a hundred of the meteor missile capable rafales available to the french also the majority of british eurofighters have received their centurion standard upgrade which expanded their weapon options the number of procured meteor missiles is still low for both sides the euro fighter has towed decoys but their false jammer is better the amram is generally more capable than the mikka missile derophall has a more agile radar but most refiles still use an older model which trails behind that of the eurofighters in pure detection capability and the eurofighter has somewhat better agility speed and acceleration it's unlikely either side would try to go on a large bombing campaign as there would be more to lose in that than to gain using up planes for strike missions means the enemy would have more planes configured for interceptions the french might fare a tad better when it comes to aerial strikes though they have more planes overall including dedicated strike planes so they could afford to perform more strikes at the same time they might negate british strikes a bit better as french ground-based air defenses are much more potent than british ones those air defenses might help a little to defend from the british superiority in cruise missiles which could cause some serious downtime in french ports and air bases after they strike the french would eventually hold their own over the channel in the air but neither side would be able to control the air over the other side's mainland still that better control over the channel itself might be enough to cause the british serious issues with operating their naval fleet from their current bases additional bases would likely need to be established as the air war rages on airborne and air sold forces would come into play france has a decent airborne and aerosol assets though it would need some time to relocate parts of it that are stationed overseas similar british units are slightly less numerous getting thousands of troops across by air would likely lead in a disaster without establishing air superiority first still for completeness both sides operate enough aircraft to get those basic light infantry units across in a short time period when it comes to amphibious assault units france has more soldiers though fewer ships capable of delivering those soldiers to enemy shores once again though all these ships would not be a factor before air superiority is established and the opponent's navy is fully defeated which would not really happen instead of trying to go for each other's mainland all those assault assets and units would more likely be used to go after the other side's overseas territories both have quite a few the locations show both integral overseas territories and bases in other countries where some troops happen to be deployed the latter could not operate from those due to scenario rules but it's evident france has a lot more troops scattered around so it would need time to assemble all those troops back to france or alternatively a well-positioned force could more easily take british territories which happened to be nearby like the british west indies or the british indian ocean territory or even ascension island but to hold any of those long-term control of the seas would be crucial and the naval battles might already be decided for the most part right in the north atlantic britain has a sizable navy though in some regards it's not yet up to its full potential it has two aircraft carriers but enough planes to populate just half of one's maximum size air wing british submarines are more numerous and on average larger and more advanced the british would likely somewhat dictate the pace of the undersea battle british carriers are bigger but in reality one would serve as a helicopter carrier splitting the already scanned f-35b numbers between two carriers would not be efficient while the f-35b is arguably a better fighter than the rafale the french have 50 percent more of false than their carrier can carry so they would have replacement fighters readily available furthermore the british carrier air wink is still forming not fully ready yet it lacks aerial early warning helicopters as sea kings have been retired and the f-35b has fewer weapons integrated and available guided bombs can be used against ships but unpowered paveways are at a disadvantage there compared to longer reaching french aasms not to mention the dedicated exocet and the ship missiles of possibly even longer reach the meteor missile is electronics-wise roughly similar to the amram but has a greater reach french mecca missiles are again of greater reach than azrams which have to be carried externally on the f-35b for now so the british may not even carry those in a fight to preserve their stealth which would definitely be their trump card in fights against rafales over the ocean advanced sensors and avionics coupled with stealth would likely allow f-35s to gain an upper hand over the rafales though the low missile load might cause some issues a good deal of french navy rafales however are not the newest variants which do not have the newest radar and don't have the meteor missile integrated the french would look for its numerical advantage and added situational awareness provided by their awax type planes but going too far away from the protection of their battle group may mean the superior air-to-air capabilities of the f-35 might cost them likewise the british f-35s would not likely dare to venture too close to french ships as multiple radars and multiple threats may be too much for them to handle the french surface combatant fleet has more ships with some systems of medium reach but more of the british ships have long reached systems it would be very hard for the british f-35s to fight their way through rafales and get in range to use laser-guided bombs on french ships facing all those air defenses the french might have a somewhat easier mission as they could fire their exocets near the edge of reach of british shipboard sams against fighter type targets though getting ambushed by f-35s would be a very realistic threat french ships have more modern anti-ship missiles as the harpoon variants on british ships have been ready for retirement for some years now and british summaries lack the option of anti-ship missiles which the french subs do have it's possible the french would use one of their mistrial ships as helicopter carriers so they can monitor the seas and defend from submarines better that would take away one third of their amphibious assault potential though the british would use their second aircraft carrier for their helicopters it's a much bigger and more potent platform compared to the mistral ship but the biggest problem the french would have is the fact that most of their surface fleet is stationed in the mediterranean the british would try to close up the gibraltar strait as soon as possible their contingent there is tiny though and it would be hard to reinforce as france would block roots to it but british submarines would likely rush towards the west of gibraltar to try to box most of the french fleet in at the same time the air war would rage over the channel as the british would try to hit at the french submarine base in brest and the french would try to hit at british bases the already weaker french submarine fleet might be even worse off if british air attacks on the nearby french submarine base managed to neutralize a sub or two there might not be time for significant overseas assault ops in such an environment the french would likely take gibraltar as soon as possible helped by their favorable geographical position where their air and sea supremacy would not be questioned that said such assault ops still take time so the british surface fleet would likely take up positions in the atlantic as well the french breaking into the atlantic with most of their fleet would likely mean greater naval casualties while fighting for gibraltar the french would have fewer planes available up north which might give the british some breathing room the royal air force has fewer planes than the french in total but locally the number of fighters up north might be more even not just due to gibraltar but also because some of the french jets are strike planes only also a good deal of british trade goods some 20 come through the english channel and london ports as well as through the channel tunnel so there would be a temporary drop in economic and industrial activity until trade manages to re-route to newly established ports the french navy would eventually break out into the atlantic but after some losses making it somewhat weaker than the royal navy then again the royal navy might also be tasked with helping the air defenses of the mainland so neither side would really be using most of their fleets to roam the atlantic or support amphibious invasions of overseas territories the french would have the added issue of having a single aircraft carrier if they managed to lose it their hopes of going head to head with the british fleet out in the ocean would be dashed while the british would be able to grind through a loss of a carrier as they have another one in light of that the british might even go all in sacrificing several submarines in order to neutralize that crucial french carrier which in turn might result in french not even attempting to stray much farther than the spanish and french coast during all that fighting the land forces would be almost completely sidelined but still a quick comparison can be made for completeness sake british ground troops rely on reservists a bit more but otherwise the numbers are quite similar the british have more armor and seem to prefer heavier tracked vehicles the french have more apcs but theirs are again lighter wheeled vehicles both sides have plenty of various armored cars and trucks with the french preferring smaller vehicles while the british prefer larger ones artillery wise the french have on average systems of greater capability but the british have almost twice their overall number all those systems would be next to useless in this war with the possible exception of long-range artillery both sides bought guided mlrs rockets which have a fairly long range but given that the british have more systems they likely have more rockets to barrage calais with as well the french might have even more rocket-assisted howard surrounds for their caesar guns but their range doesn't allow for significant coverage of the uk mainland and using them near the coast to maximize reach would make them easy targets various scout and attack helicopters would also likely be used over the channel though only for quick hit and run raids as they would otherwise be far too vulnerable to the enemy's airpower even bigger influence overall war effort would come in form of various aerial intelligence gathering platforms the french have more avox-like platforms while the british have more electronic emission gathering planes the british however completely lagged their own recon satellites they have a deal to share usage with several u.s spy satellites some french satellites are exclusively theirs while others are shared with other european nations the british do have more aerial recon drones and theirs are on the average bigger and more capable those drones are all slow flying and lack self-defense sensors they would have a hard time operating over the channel but they might occasionally survive to help with recon the islands of jersey and guernsey might or might not get taken by the french their proximity makes it fairly easy for the french to take them but the rules of this scenario might preclude it depending on how they're interpreted due to their self-rule after the dust settles in the atlantic it's likely no one would fully control it with uk carriers mostly out of combat planes and their submarine fleet halved the french might lose their carrier though the rest of the fleet might fare a bit better than the british fleet overall it's not likely there would be enough forces trickling into the caribbean territories of either side to have those islands change hands and the air war between the two homelands would mostly end in a stalemate though either with a bit more british targets bombed and similar number of planes lost on both sides or with the british losing more planes and bombing a similar number of land targets as the french neither side would be able to go on big unopposed bombing campaigns against the british south or the french north oh and if you wonder what a nuclear war between the two might look like we have covered that in a separate video before feel free to check it out and remember binkov may talk about hypothetical wars but only real peace can bring us all [Music] together

Channel: Binkov's Battlegrounds

Views: 754,177

Keywords: RAF, Royal navy, french navy, rafale, eurofighter, UK military, French military, france army, british army, uk vs france, france versus uk, military comparison

Id: 79EVO6J9_7Y

Length: 15min 53sec (953 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 31 2021