The Marines have been sensible and bought our Harriers as insurance, that is their Plan B. They had always planned to operate AV8B til at least 2015 with a staggered transfer of personnel from Harrier to F-35. With spares becoming more expensive and Rolls not building anymore new engines buying our jets at a rock bottom price was a godsend for them. At the same time they are running out of F-18 airframes and may need to transition some aircrew onto AV8B until F-35 is ready in enough numbers.
What is our Plan B? Good question, to which my only answer would be sit and wait and hope we don't need the capability... Well above my pay grade but with the reversion to a STOVL carrier there isn't any other STOVL jet in the game. Mabe QE becomes a 'deck for hire' for the USMC/Spanish/Italians? Embarrassing for the politicians to see other nations Harriers operating off QE but it would at least help build the FW experience for the ship's company until F-35 FOCFT.
Last edited by WhiteOvies; 10th Jul 2012 at 14:03.