Glo,
Fortunately, the UK made bit of the fuselage does not include the Arresting Hook System (AHS) or the supporting structure, which is massive with a big M.
The issue reported is serious but should be solvable with some clever engineering - but if the hook has to be moved aft that is going to be a very serious design change indeed.
The source of the issue is the well aft location of the main wheels - driven in part by the requirement for long weapon bays and also by the structural layout that hangs a number of big loads (aft spars, verticals, thrust mounts, main gears) on or around a big frame located well aft. In addition, with a single engined aircraft, there isn't much structure at the end of the fuselage to hang the hook system on, mostly just jetpipe. That moved the hook system forward. The repor`t contains a huge amount of interesting detail.
My bet is that they will try a hook point and damper redesign, and if that doesn't work, they could go for a more complex (but sadly heavier) translating or extending hook mechanism to get the point further aft. If that's not possible, it's a hook system move aft - potential nightmare.
This is a complex one to fix and test, as the time between the main wheels hitting the wires and the hook engaging them is not fixed and the dynamic behaviour of the wire is complex, depending whether you engage in mid span or off centre. You also have to do a number of traps on land and more importantly at sea on a pitching and heaving deck to really test it out.
Remember, this cat and trap stuff is complicated and difficult. The USN make it look easy. It ain't.
Best Regards as ever to all those actually doing the dangerous stuff on land or sea,
Engines