S41 and JF
Thanks for your comments and apologies for reposting. I was always dubious about Dave-B, but having seen what the production aircraft can do and even knowing its alleged range limitations, its still a quantum leap (if you pardon the pun) from where we are today. In an ideal world, I would prefer the CV variant, but its not practical. Given all the compromises we are going to have to make over the next few years it is the way to go. The USMC is wedded to this beast. Since most of what we do mirrors USMC capability, we should be more than happy with it. The Navy certainly is. 36 of them off 4 acres of sovereign mobile territory buys us an awful lot of clout. Interestingly, the Navy is projecting that they could have both CVF available for 60% of the time. If we are going to introduce fresh thinking and new ideas, this is the place to start. Dinosaurs beware.