Surely the fact that both the UK and France have decided to deploy attack helicopters demonstrates that both London and Paris want the ability to hit more targets and an increased ability to respond quickly to events on the ground?
On which note, the following article was on BBC News yesterday:
On board France's flagship aircraft carrier off Libya
Note that the Captain of
Charles de Gaulle says that it would helped to have other carriers working alongside.
Since Time = Distance/Speed, an aircraft based aboard a carrier that can get close to the shore will always provide a faster response than a land based one based 500+ nautical miles away, regardless of "leg size". You cannot argue with basic Maths.