WEBF,
You say that a large element of aircraft carrier operations don’t involve fast jets.
Where on earth are these alternative aircraft to come from?
The RN has 30 Merlin HMA2’s, 25 Merlin HC4’s and 28 Wildcats.
Put all those on 1 RN carrier and the Navy has no more aircraft for any of it’s other ships. And another empty carrier.
Carriers of this size only make sense if you can embark aircraft in quantity.
With only 9 deployable Lightning’s they are a total waste of money.
When is the 3rd operational Lightning squadron to form, 2033?
And the Lighting’s aren’t just a SHAR replacement, they also replaced the 7 squadron Tornado GR4 force and the Harriers.
Cummings and co have a point about wasteful defence projects.
When they realise the facts re the deployable capability of the 2 carriers they must be first in the queue to be axed.