But what about the problem of providing timely support to naval forces at sea - particularly in littoral situations where the enemy air bases are much closer than friendly ones?
Surely better for a naval task group to provide its own air defence (or at least a major part of it) rather than to rely exclusively on ever smaller numbers of land based aircraft?
Perhaps the reason so many up and coming Navies (eg Italy, or spain) seek to acquire carriers and carrier based fighters (with BVR capabilities as well) is because of this modern focus on llittoral operations? That and the lessons of 1982 - which EVERY Navy in the World studied.