MM and all,
I still speak to a number of RN officers, FAA and others who voice grave concerns about the almost total dilution of our naval aviation capability since the Shars were given to Strike and then dissolved. As I understand it, their are no further scheduled deployments of the NSW on any RN carrier this year. Their are rumours (this is a rumour network after all) about the RN inviting a "guest" USMC squadron to fill the gap in our almost non-existent naval air capability on a regular basis. JFH has been a disaster for the Navy, make no bones about it, at present we can't match the capabilities or Spain or Italy in this respect. How many duskers or night qualified carrier pilots do we have available? Contrast where we are now, to 5 years ago. The answer is not good. I'm not having a dig at anyone, just reporting on the state of play and wondering how we are going to get out of it.
Here's one suggestion. Dissolve JFH. Take the two navy squadrons and take them back to Yeovilton and place them on naval tasking.
I echo Engine's comments about using Tornados in Afghanistan.