pr00ne
Good post. But when did the F-35B get designated GR1? I am sure I once asked about the designation - somewhere. The other point I would make is that the lines between training, exercises, and operations is increasingly blurred, particularly in the NATO context. It will be a busy year in 2020.
SASless
Even US Navy carrier aircraft depend on land based tankers! I can remember seeing TV coverage of RAF ones refuelling USN Tomcats in late 1990 in the Gulf! The reason USN carriers have an AAR capability (now eating up Super Hornet flight hours) is for refuelling jets that miss a wire and have to go around again. STOVL means this is not needed.
As for the US Navy and the Falklands - that is just sophistry as it was not an all out war against the Soviets. An Article V (of the NATO charter) one would different.
Asturias56
See previous point about Article V of the NATO charter. Also carrier groups are often multinational, and the Netherlands has already stated it will contribute frigates to the UK Carrier Strike Group. I wonder if a NATO Standing Force would not be tasked to work with the carrier group if necessary. Note I said 'work with', not 'to escort'.
As for the topic of 'escorts':
During the Falklands War the two carriers were accompanied by something like twenty frigates and destroyers - many of them old and lacking decent radar and missiles. The escorts dedicated purely to the carriers was low - perhaps one of the Type 22s goalkeeping with Sea Wolf? At times Type 22s were detached for other tasks, and groups of frigates and destroyers were detached for things like submarine hunting (with carrier based Sea Kings), naval gunfire support, inserting/extracting/supporting special forces, providing a close escort for the landing force - and providing control for the carrier based Sea Harriers.
One reason I think 'Escort' is an unhelpful term is because of the question of what is to be escorted? A carrier? A merchant ship? what about when she does a role that is escorting nothing - perhaps NGS? My example would be imagine a situation where a small force is put ashore from an LPD. One frigate maintains close proximity to the LPD to defend her - definitely escorting. But what of the other frigate that stays close to the shore and is on call to provide NGS if the Royal Marines need it?
For the ships in a carrier based group, those that provide close protection for the carrier could be said to be escorting. But what about the destroyer that provides control for carrier based (and other fighters), contributes to control of aircraft on other missions, and keeps tabs on everything in the air. Is she really an escort, which implies a passive and purely defensive role? Likewise the frigate some distance from the carrier, providing long range ASW detection with towed array sonar and working with ASW helicopters - including those from the carrier? Escorting? Yes - but to the whole force including any amphibious force, mine counter measures forces, or Crisis Response Shipping being escorted by the task group.