SSSTETOWTF,
Many thanks for your reply, it explains a lot to a plank like me who simply doesn't get that info'...I have a feeling, if you are who I think, that we have worked together in the past !
I agree the F-35 has a lot more future if things go really pear-shaped, but in the meantime ( everyone plans for the last war, not any potential, especially accountants ) couldn't we do with something like a STOVL A-10 ?!
As you say, it's a mystery why the proposed CVF's don't carry Marines & landing craft etc; I sadly surmise, living next door to a retired Admiral ( of course he only got there by binning his flying career in Sea Vixens ) that there's still a lot of " in the good old days we had the big Ark Royal & Phantoms " etc, just as RAF people still wax lyrical about the Lightning, which is probably the crappest weapon system ever fielded, ranging alongside that rocket propelled cartwheel job which was supposed to clear mines on D-Day !...
Regards,
DZ
Last edited by Double Zero; 17th Apr 2009 at 14:06.