Originally Posted by
glojo
We have a number of pilots operating from US carriers, we have had the First Sea Lord going up for a 'jolly' in an F-18 so has this aircraft ever been considered as an option instead of the F-35B?
One of the early MOD design studies for CVF included a hangar deck layout that had 'boxes' marked 'F-18E/F' and 'E-2C' (as well as 'Merlin'), so it was certainly thought about.
Regarding the Kiev class, they could be used as STOVL carriers with Forgers - there was footage/pics of Forgers doing short take offs from one in the 80s. (Which was a bit of a surprise if I recall as up to that point ship based Forgers were thought to be VTOL only)