Just HAD to put my head above the parapet on the JFH/Illustrious AV-8B debate.
MM, I agree that some of the comments here are WAY off beam - FAA people do what they are tasked to do, and that can include ops from ashore. They usually make a bl**dy decent fist of it. 820 operating Swordfish out of the Western desert in 1940, all the way to Junglies in NI/Bosnia/Kosovo/Kurdistan/Pakistan/Iraq (and the list goes on) - there are plenty of examples to be had. If this is the current tasking for JFH, then they will get on and do it, and do it well.
But there's a serious point here about JFH and carrier embarked time. I share the concerns that 3 weeks a year embarked is just not enough to be able to advertise JFH as an effective seagoing force. It's certainly not enough to keep the RN surface fleet, professional as they are, 'current' on embarked air ops. My direct experience is that there is significant danger of 'skill fade' - and that happens all the way from the pilot having trouble getting to the deck, to the handler who can't accurately move an aircraft around the deck in the time required.
This generates safety concerns. We have lost good people (in the recent past) due to ships not being ready to operate aircraft. At three weeks per year, my considered opinion is that the risks of doing so again are real.
Looking to the future, JFH is supposed to be the bridge to the JSF/CVF future. At this rate, the country runs the risk of bringing a very capable aircraft to a ship (and a service) that won't be able to operate it effectively. There are definite shades of the WW2 situation here, where loss of aviation command expertise within the RN led to real problems for the FAA early on.
Bottom line is that Illustrious SHOULD have had a GR7 element embarked - with 4 front line squadrons of GR7s in JFH, it does seem odd that none could be spared for CVS exercises. I'd be curious to know why JFH have been tasked with Afghanistan - why not Tornados? (Genuine question, not trying to start a Harrier/Tonka slanging match).
And the follow on -why can't the RN man the squadrons? (if true). The RN pipelines are now fully integrated with, and run by the RAF system - so where are the people leaking out of?
Regards
Engines