exMudmover,
I think there is a huge benefit to integrating key RN personnel onboard US big decks and 'handling' aircraft on a larger scale to prepare for operating the QEC. However, that's where it stops in my opinion. The argument for maintaining conventional carrier expertise in preparation for STOVL is now tenuous to say the least; there is no requirement for regular field carrier landing practice any more which, if we were buying the F-35C, I confess would be otherwise essential.
For the RAF and RN to prepare for F-35B we should now target a few USMC exchange posts on AV-8B and/or their initial F-35Bs in exchange for some Typhoon slots for instance (oh, what would the RN 'exchange'?
) Maintaining a STOVL-experienced cadre with embarked time to transition to our UK F-35Bs more seamlessly as we form the first Squadron is of much, much more benefit and value than getting auto-launched or being an ace at trapping a 3-wire for 6 years as a Brit abroad. We're buying F-35B and for 95% of the JSF Programme that has been the case.
It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out but fixed-wing FAA isn't looking anywhere near as future-proof as it perhaps did last week when C was on the cards. Much of the public believe that the RN are the only ones with enough STOVL carrier ops flying experience and understanding and that is simply not the case. For instance, at the time of the demise of the GR9 there were more qualified and 'in-practice' RAF pilots than FAA ones. Much fuss is made of having to be dark blue to understand embarked ops and that's simply wrong - in addition, my experience is that the majority of the ship's company regularly showed a surprising level of ignorance of what projecting Air Power was all about. I'm talking 'Strike' missions (not in the Cold War sense of course) from the sea, not defending the fleet organically with a few AMRAAM and Aim-9M.
I think the error the RN have made is that they believe that two massive QEC carriers put them back in the same league as the big deck US Navy; back to the late 1970s again. The problem is they won't have the rest of the gear required to make a CVN-style CAG (AEW, Destroyers, Frigates). The best UK could hope for is to fit into a US CAG and the US protective bubble around it.