Mr Boffin
Most interesting - I can see that technically the CATOBAR option had to be considered in the event that (1) the DoD/Congress would do a Skybolt on STOVL (to wit, internal decision for us, existential threat for you) or that (2) there would not be an F-35B follow-on within the life of the ships.
Politically it was different - the more it could be presented as a simple follow-on to CVS, the better.