Greetings !
Although a new boy to pprune I am sadly old enough to have first hand experience of our last generation of flat-tops. Prior to that I'm told that, with destroyer power-plants, merchant ship scantlings, and proper design an "Ocean" could deploy nearly 40 aircraft on 20,000 tons, happy days!
What happens when the Andrew has to go and tell HMG that what they really meant was three carriers, not two?, ( or perhaps they're going to be part-time assets?) and that the funding will peak at just about the time when FRES, Trident replacement, NGF etc are all standing in line waiting for the honey?. There's the other tiny problem that JSF ( Naval) may never see the light of day. Lucky perhaps that, with only a single set of ways left to build a "proper" carrier on they will have to be built sequentially. I.O.S in, what?, 2025 then? ( you think that's pessimistic, take a look at "Typhoon")
Then we have the thorny question of how do we protect these behemoths?. How many Type 45's do you need?. How many are we likely to get? Integrating air-defence with our American allies is going to be tricky too, with our having opted for Aster rather than SM2 Block4. Sadly, though British Aerospace may seek to have you believe that it's as English as Steak pudding it is, of course, as French as tripe. US is not too keen to share F-TEMA software with our French allies, ( nor with us!) and since none of our other missile assets can effectively use CEC we may have the odd problem there. Of course, if they are to be employed only as floating aerodromes for use in Sierra Leone, Botswana or wherever then that will not need to be a major consideration, but if so why not go for an "Arapaho" concept at one fifth the price.
Incidentally, wasn't one of the main considerations in embarking on the monstrously expensive Typhoon programme to ensure the maintenance of a UK/European capability?.
JSF is neither as French as tripe, nor as English as Steak pudding, it is, is it not, as American as apple pie??.....
So how about JSENAC, I just thought it up!, Joint Standing European Naval Air Component. Two new carriers, one existing ( either French or US), Rafael/Advanced Harrier on board, plus a few screwtops. New CBG assets drawn from existing French/German/UK assets with new builds if required. Rotating command structure on the basis that, if UN sanctioned, any one nation involved can require the use of the assets. and pay for any utilisation in excess of its original allocation. Otherwise funded by anticipated utilisation (i.e. UK might seek 200 op days/yr, France 100).
Complement would, of course, be multi-national on normal deployment with provision for sole-country manning. Bingo, no semi-mythical JSF required, "proper" fighters on board,( admit it guys, you know which one you'd rather fly don't you!) timelines dramatically shortened, European co-operation re-established, much better use of existing CBG assets.
It would be a very hard act to make fly, and BAE would probably hate it, but France would love to sell some Rafael's, I have a strong suspicion that, with maingate now receding into the distant past, and cost rising every single minute, let alone day, it may be the only hope.
over to you all!