Niche
Squirrel
Mate, you are in denial.
There are statements on this web site saying that we can no longer afford the do Iraq/Afghanistan - therefore we don't need a carrier. This is a flawed (illogical) argument. The logic is that to avoid the costs of another Afg we need to avoid 'invading' countries when we 'help them out'. So, tanking the GRs and then letting them stay there immediately puts us into the invasion category (long drawn-out conflict with problems 'getting out'). Carriers enable us to avoid this situation.
By the way, what on earth are you going to do with your invading Harriers once they have dropped their load? How are you going to get the support staff into the country in the first place? I assume is is by tanking the strategic lift with the strategic tankers. And the strategic lift will need 10 a/c to provide 2, and the tankers will need 10 aircraft to provide 2, and the bombers will need to number 100 to provide 8 ... we have spent the whole defence budget already and I haven't started on T&S for the light-blue flying club.
BM
PS Niche means doing something that nobody else does - not making contingencies for things that might never happen.