At last, here is news of what 801 have been doing off the US coast....
801 NAS Aurora 04 Deployment
The Exercise pitted friendly ‘Blue’ maritime forces against enemy ‘Red’ land-based assets, in a bid to achieve total air and surface superiority prior to an amphibious assault. The Red forces comprised of US Navy F-18 Hornets, F-14 Tomcats, Learjets and other missile simulating platforms – many of which had not been encountered before by the Squadron pilots.
Meanwhile, the recent cuts have included the premature retirement of three Type 42 Destroyers and three Type 23 Frigates. If T23s have been sacrificed in order to save T42s, it means that the Sea Dart missile capability is still deemed important - meaning that area anti air warfare is still desirable. Without the Sea Harrier, the T42/Sea Dart is particularly important. However, I still stand by my T42 vs T23 comments.......