Has the work started? Is steel being cut?
CVF does not and will not exist in isolation. Another project it relates to is Military Afloat Reach Sustainability (MARS). A very good source of information on MARS is
Richard Beedall's MARS page. Without MARS, high sortie rates from CVF will be impossible to sustain.
The ‘force projection’ role of the Royal Navy requires three key tasks to be fulfilled by MARS:
Fighting ships to be supplied with bulk consumables (BC) – fuel, food, ammunition, stores, water, and air stores to embarked forces.
Joint sea-based logistics (JSBL) support and sustainment to be provided to land forces from the sea to locations potentially well inland from the beachhead and then sustain their operations.
Forward Aviation Support (FAS) – the provision of support to maritime rotary wing operations. The ships will be able to act as a forward maintenance facility for deployed helicopters.
This last task makes up for
ASS being cancelled.