Hmm, 3 points.
1. I don't believe it was claimed that the POW would be modified to make it incapable of carrying the F-35B.
2. He doesn't actually address the number of F-35Bs to be purchsed or state that there will be 2 wings.
3. He never refutes the claim that there is $1-2B shortfall, only that Gray report doesn't give an evidence to prove it. And why would it?
This would seem to be a smokescreen. Nothing has been said to refute the original leaks regarding the cuts to the F-35B order, the reroling of the RAF sqns to Typhoon and the use of the POW to replace HMS Ocean with her planned replacement being deferred or cancelled.
Davies: both carriers will take JSF
Both the Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales aircraft carriers will be able to carry the joint strike fighter (JSF) according to defence equipment and support minister Quentin Davies. Speaking in the House of Commons he also rubbished the Gray Report's claim that there was a £2bn annual overspend in the MoD's equipment programme.
In October, it was reported that government would downgrade either the Queen Elizabeth or the Prince of Wales carrier, taking away their ability to carry the JSF. Reports stated the MoD was looking to save money on the 65,000 tonne carriers, which are already £1bn over budget.
Davies said reports the carrier plans were to be scaled down were "complete rubbish".
"There is no suggestion at all, and there has never been in our minds at all, to re-specify the two aircraft carriers," he said. "There has been no change in that programme, and neither has there been any change in our JSF programme. We are already committed to purchasing the first three aircraft."
He also said there was "no evidential basis" to the statement in the Gray report that between £1bn and £2.2bn was being lost each year as a result of failure to control equipment spending. "The very fact that the range is between £1bn and two point something billion shows how imprecise that statement inevitably would be," said Davies.