Aside from the distance from which a naval fighter can strike it's targets, I would have thought that a pilot returning to the carrier would appreciate as much fuel as possible for the recovery. At the same time the ability to 'park' the carrier further away from the target must make any retaliatory counter more problematic for the bad guys, or at least permit the carrier or its pickets and AEW more time to see the bad news coming and react to it? With F35C you have more options.
The big risk with the B, as others have suggested, is it is the most vulnerable to cancellation, which would leave us absolutely nowhere to go if we build PoW without CATOBAR capability. While cat and trap adds capital cost, and perhaps through life cost too, it does as least leave options should the B get chopped. If the UK eventually gets it's finances into better shape, we could even bring QE into service later with F35B. Either way, I still think the decision on F35B or C (or A for that matter, should it ever be considered) is best held off until the Americans have made their minds up about it, and cost, performance and time-lines are much better understood. This might be 2020 or later, so PoW needs to be CATOBAR equipped now to preserve alternatives, - SHornet or Rafale. The selected interim fighter will do us until F35 is ready to be phased in. And there's the rub, increasing costs now is not what the MoD wants to hear.
Last edited by Lowe Flieger; 28th Mar 2012 at 13:09.
Reason: typo