Yeller_Gait,
There are 2 crews for the remaining CVS, not one bouncing between the two.
Nothing sad about waiting as long as possible to decide what is actually a relatively minor procurement issue, the configuration of the deck and aircraft type. (The deck options are spring loaded and ready to go and both types of aircraft will be produced for the USN and USMC which ever one we decide upon). If you rush into things you end up with platforms that end up not being used for what they were designed for. Such as Nimrod MRA4. Or Typhoon. Or Merlin. I can go on if you like.
Feel free to edit your post from "sad state of affairs" to "aren't those Navy types really quite smart".
Partly agree with your comment about T42 (old, tired weapon system) and gaps in our capability. First T45 hull will float in January 06, into service 07. Lets hope that we don't need that kind of serious air defence capability until then. It's all about balancing risk vs our chequebook balance. I'm not saying we have it right but history will be the judge of that.
Pierre Argh
One aircraft on a mission might get shot down, two aircraft, with half the number of bombs on each, means one may get through etc, etc?
The one aircraft (F-35) is, in theory, more than twice as survivable as the two cheap and cheerful ones with half the weapons. Cost saving has never been the primary thought in winning battles, it's just a reality of an environment where the military isn't fighting wars of national survival and, to the tax paying public, reducing hospital waiting lists is more important than stocking our ships/aircraft/tanks with the best gear in the quantities we want. Don't fight the white.
Soddim
Surely the cost argument should be something like cost per target kill. That should give a clear picture of which is the more effective system and it follows that you will get more bang per buck.
What happens if the "thing" you're buying doesn't deliver a weapon, like ASTOR for instance? As every day goes by, military personnel (and the kit they use) are less likely to be dropping weapons and more likely to be finding insurgents hideouts or drug production facilities for the indigenous police forces to deal with them. Cost per target kill would make a C130 or an OSKOSH refueller quite expensive compared to an F-35 or even, heaven forbid, a Typhoon. Actually, I'm going mad. Nothing is as expensive per unit cost as Typhoon. (No cheap shots about CVF or JSF, they don't exist yet).