Strangely enough, young Colin’s hypotheses have formed part of my bedtime reading.
Whether we agree or not on possible future conflict scenarios, one things is certain; the JSF / Eurofighter + carrier combo is going to place us where we need not be.
Carriers are about power projection, pure and simple. Even if you believe they’re defensible in a major conflict - and I sincerely doubt it - their air groups are limited in strength and fairly inflexible operationally. They can (hopefully) defend themselves and offer reasonable support to the chaps in khaki. They will not win you a war, though if you chose to go to war with one the loss of it will very probably cause you to head home with your tail between your legs.
9 billion will buy you many things…people, information, resources and some well-trained individuals on the ground. These, my friend, are the things which are likely to win you future wars.
The JSF is a thing of wonder. Seriously. And I’ve no doubt a Eurofighter zooming around a carrier would make my heart beat faster too. But don’t waste you time pretending they’re the most effective way we can defend the realm or bring our influence to bear in the harsher places in this world, because they’re not.