Todays Times letters
Constrained carrier
Sir,
It is no longer possible to duck the question of why a British aircraft carrier was unable to be dispatched to the Red Sea. Quite simply it was intransigence by the RAF: it has not put sufficient priority into the provision of F35 aircraft and their necessary logistic and manpower support because it inexplicably seems to think of the F35s as being for shore-based use. This is extraordinary, bearing in mind our nation specifically ordered the short take-off and vertical landing variant of this fifth-generation aircraft as we wanted it to operate from the carriers.
The generation of carrier strike has never been seen as a priority by the RAF, and as it has ownership and control of the purse strings for the F35, despite it being procured specifically for carrier use, it has been able to delay and adversely affect the programme. It would be timely to transfer ownership and funding across to the Royal Navy — the benefit to carrier strike and UK defence capability would be stunning.
Admiral Lord West of Spithead
Former chief of the naval staff