MM, SSSETOWTF and others,
Some good points seem to be coming out here. I'd be interested to know (although I know probably can't be told) how many Tornados are committed to TELIC - there should be quite a few GR4s about now.
But the key issue (for this thread anyway) has to be building the roadmap to a credible level of maritime air capability at F-35 ISD. The RN (and the FAA) certainly know that Strike is the primary mission in the future, and in that respect, getting some 'mud moving' in on JFH can only be a good thing. But...
MM's point about building N2/6 capability is well made.
This is going to be a major part of actually delivering the capability from the ships.
Perhaps we need to be looking at building true
J2 and
J6 people who can move smoothly from land to ship and back as the situation demands?
MM's point about lack of naval careers for aviators is probably not true for the rotary wing guys left under Fleet Command but could be for JFH. Once you take aircraft and people and send them over to another service, those people stand into danger of 'falling off the plot'.
But equally, what progress is being made in getting the RAF to embrace maritime air (CVF) as a 'core' capability, and made part of its baseline planning assumptions? I know that many feel that as long as some areas of the RAF only see CVF as a 'secondary basing option' then there will be a lack of commitment to 'naval tasking'. Current events seem to bear that out.
Regards