EM Cat with mini ski jump may be a very interesting way forward. We will still need tanker or buddy-buddy tanking available for cat /trap. Will Merlin AEW go as well and the RN look at Hawkeye? Should look at launch rate for cat/trap against ski jump but STOVL has so many penalties for payload/range and effectiveness that reverting to cat/trap may mean we need fewer airframes.
I hope that some one has already done the analysis.