This is a question and certainly not an opinion:
Is this America attempting to keep all its prospective overseas buyers onboard? Words like...... Ship\leaving\rodents\sinking.. may come to mind!
Have they guaranteed delivery dates that might have penalty clauses?
Thankfully our first carrier aka HMS White Elephant will not be capable of playing with these state of the art toys which means that we may have wiggle room that would cater for any delays in the time line for this aircraft.
I'm just having a quiet little chuckle..
We build a carrier that cannot launch or recover aircraft and the Americans have an aircraft with a hook that does not 'hook'
Apologies for my humour and I ACCEPT the F-35C is still a work in progress and these issues will be resolved.
On our local news this morning an expert on our Royal Navy was claiming that we now had just NINETEEN frigates\destroyers. I find that figure amazing or should that be disturbing! If this is the case then by the time these carriers enter service how many ships will there be? Will there be sufficient to carry out the requirements placed upon it by Her Majesty's Government.
Putting a carrier to sea without the support of a combined battle group or at the very least an escort is something I have never experienced but with such a limited number of warships can that commitment be fulfilled? Note these are still questions.
Will there be the sailors to man these ships when and if they are commissioned, I have read articles which suggest the crew of the first ship will work that one up and then when the second ship joins the fleet... they all step across! Lots of questions regarding that suggestion.
Apologies if this attempts to take the subject off topic but it might be relevant to cost but possibly not the financial cost. More to do with the sailors and there limited availability.