You never know where a carrier might be needed next. In 1971 Guatemala rattled its sabres at the then British Honduras (Belize). The nearest asset was the old Ark and she was this side of the pond but she set off at max chat and when 2000 miles out she launched a flight of Buccaneers, a mix of tankers and bombers, which over flew the country and put the Guatemalans back in their box purely with a simple fly by. Just shows what the thought that there is a carrier just over the horizon can do
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Their territorrial claim remains as does that of Argentina over the Malvinas and when might the next Grenada kick off? and we had to rely on Uncle Sam for that last one (maybe we were still getting over the Falklands).
So yes, the Buc could buddy refuel it carried a huge extra fuel tank in the bomb bay and even the bomb bay door was converted to a tank. Could this be done to the JSF? why not put a couple of big tanks in the Weapons Bays. It would require wet pylons to enable an additional tank and an AAR Pod to be carried but wouldn't it be worth the effort to provide CVF with such a useful force multiplier.
sharmine