Double Zero,
I'm not sure that I'm reading your posts correctly, so forgive me if I'm answering a question that you're not asking. But the first carrier definitely will have a ramp. It should do nicely for the Harriers until F-35 arrives. F-35B will detect from pitch rate etc that the aircraft is travelling up a ramp and the control laws react accordingly to maximise aircraft performance. A good deal of work has gone into this already, including ramp optimization and control law work in the simulators.
Nostrinian,
The jet does have auto-eject. The Russians have used a system based on very similar principles in their Yak-38 for years. It's a hard fact of life that when you have a vertical lift system that has two large thrust centres a relatively long way from the CG, if one of them fails you get a huge pitching moment. If the pilot isn't pulling the handle in under a second, he's toast. So you need an auto-eject system. The question of whether or not the crashing aircraft (with or without a pilot in) injures people on deck is no different from legacy.
It's another sad fact of life that if you want an aircraft to pump out 40 000lb of thrust, it's going to be loud - find me an engine of that class that isn't.
Low Observable,
I believe Gen Davis is quite correct (as you'd expect from a man who's in charge of a programme worth several billion dollars). The aircraft is meeting or on track to meet all it's Key Performance Parameters, which is why SRVL is a UK programme - because our bringback requirement (Key User Requirement) is different (i.e. more demanding). It all comes down to what you call a 'hot day'. But the US are taking an interest in it because it has other benefits such as perhaps being easier to integrate with F-35C traffic patterns, future-proofing for weight growth etc.
Regards,
Single Seat, Single Engine, The Only Way To Fly