Engines:
“I don't think that RAF airmen, senior or junior, are bad people, or stupid, or 'worse' than RN aviators. I've said, and say again, that the RAF is chock full of highly professional people. However, it's a fact that, as a service, they are basically uninterested in flying from ships. It's not surprising, and even understandable, viewed through the lens of independent 'Air Power' that seeks to make its case as an alternative to 'conventional' land and sea power.”
After JFH returned from Afghan it was well on its way to recovering the embarked role – only the savings measure stopped it. AURIGA, the last embarked full exercise, was with 1(F) Sqn on deck.
As for the “Independent Air Power” argument, you are living in the past. That was Trenchard’s argument. The argument now is that the environmental expertise can only be vested and protected by a specialist Service. If the RN took the embarked aircraft; there is a strong possibility that they would trade away JSF for a cheaper option in order to save the Carrier Programme and consign us to the second division for ever (militarily and industrially).
And for those suggesting that we buy this very costly capability merely to take our time in the US CV deployment rota, they will see it taken as a savings measure very quickly. We need to find a new way of operating that makes one ship do. We cannot copy the US model.