"You argue that we have no amphibious capability..."
I argued nothing of the sort, only that (rightly) we don't have the level of amphibious or air assault capability that we had in 1956.
Nor were Al Faw nor even Corporate amphibious ops on the scale of Musketeer. It would be nice if we had the forces required to autonomously do another Musketeer sized op, or another Corporate, but we don't.
I argued that the RN must get used to the new reality of being a partner in large scale coalition ops, and will inevitably lack some of the capabilities that might sometimes be needed, in some circumstances, for autonomous ops - just as the RAF has had to.
"One thing that is missing in the inventory, is the ability to offer close air support. Yes, that could be launched from land bases but only if you have HNS.
Apart from Harrier GR and Typhoon (which will have EPW and Litening very soon). HNS is more likely to be there than not. It always has been (even for Sierra Leone) and if it isn't it probably means that the proposed op is politically unsustainable anyway. It's far more likely that we'll be tasked to go against targets that are too far from the coast for CVF-based tac aircraft to be relevant.
"The CVF and JCA, together with the existing amphibious assets, will offer the UK a significant strike package,"
Strike? I think not.
"...able to go almost anywhere on the globe, without the need for friendly nation support. All your maintainance and support needs are contained within one neat package, that is not at daily risk from mortar attack."
But unable to sustain the same sortie rate as a land based force, unable to deploy as quickly, and requiring massive resources - SSNs, frigates, destroyers, RFAs etc.
"The RAF is still stuck in the cold war and has procured a very capable but very expensive jet that does not quite fit today's role."
Yes indeed. A swing role, multi-role tactical jet optimised for rapid deployment with minimal support is certainly irrelevant in today's world.
"What you really want, is more tankers, more heavy lift, more transport and ISTAR assets..."
Absolutely right, and some of the money flowing from SHar's early withdrawal will go to these areas. Now if only we could !!!!-can CVF and JSF we could really get the tankers, lift, ISTAR, recce and SEAD assets we need.
"You know that CVF and JCA will make Typhoon redundant and it will become an albatross around the RAF's neck."
Hmmm. Typhoon will have ASRAAM and Meteor in the A-A role, AND when flying in most A-G configurations. JSF won't. (No Meteor, no external ASRAAM).
Typhoon will have EPW IV and Litening. EPW IV won't fit in JSF's internal bays.
Typhoon will have Brimstone. Brimstone integration has been !!!!-canned off JSF.
The first frontline JSF squadron won't achieve IOC until 2017, assuming no more delays.