Are we seeing 'Day 1' type operations being 'flown' by operators sat in nice air conditioned rooms hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from any hostile environment or tomahawk missiles being fired from submarines? Is Libya an example of this along with the excellent F-18 Growler? Is there any real value\advantage in using manned aircraft for these first day penetrations?
If we stick with the F-35C we have a conventional carrier that could operate tankers plus other supportive aircraft, does this then give the carrier more bang for the buck? How would our AEW Merlin compare to the latest E-2 series Hawkeye and what would be the superior military option? What other aircraft would complete the air wing? By having solely the STOVL option the answer is NONE, it will have to be rotor wing and if we are silly enough to go for the 'B' then would we be silly enough to go for a full house and look at the V-22 Osprey?
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I just find it so frustrating that we have gone from the World's leading authority regarding carrier operations to a nation that is reliant on the US for teaching our Navy of today the skills we once taught our strongest ally! Where have we gone wrong? No steel industry, open cast coal mines that are closed down, mining villages that are now ghost towns with all those mines closed, no real car manufacturing, or major commercial vehicles... The list is endless... ship building, Liverpool docks, London docks...
A Royal Navy that has
merchant ships carrying out the operational duties our warships should be performing just because we do not have enough warships to carry out the tasks this government have imposed on them. The other services are also in dire straits regarding a lack of equipment, resources etc. I for one am not convinced we will see any type of fixed wing aircraft operated from the decks of a warship... be that F-35/36/48 or even 18. Somehow or other my country has been ruined from within and that is so, so sad.
I am hoping this ministerial silence regarding the decision to change tact and go back to the 'B' is a good sign and hopefully this 'rumour' will die a natural death and the F-35C is still the aircraft of choice and fingers crossed we will all see this come to fruition.
