Has anyone seen confirmation that Ark Royal is being 'scrapped' or is she going to R9 (e.g. 180 days notice for sea). I've not seen final confirmation as to her plans.
Its difficult - the matelot part of me feels immensely angry at the loss of this capability and sad at what is happening to our once great navy. However, rationally I can (just about) see the logic behind why we're doing it - if HERRICK is the only game till 2015, and if we're clear that optional expeditions till 2020 are out of the question, then the ability to retain a carrier able to send 6 harriers to sea becomes much less necessary.
I don't like it, I think it it stinks, but ultimately its the reality of a situation where we're stuck fighting a war that was lost years ago, and with an Army which is convinced that even a tiny manpower cut will somehow mean mission failure. Personally I suspect the Army is in for the mother of all cuts in 2015 at the end of HERRICK, as both CAS and 1SL point out how their services have borne the brunt of cuts for 10 years to protect HERRICK and now its payback time.