Hi Eaglemmoomin
Glojo possibly another STOVL aircraft/UAV. I don't see why not? You have the US Marines, Italy, Spain (just about), Thailand (not that they ever use them) and India that operate STOVL right now (though to be fair India are going STOBAR for their replacement carrier and god knows what for the two follow ons). The South Koreans, Japanese and Aussies all have/are building large amphib LHA/LHD flat decks. Turkey are also in the design stage of a large amphib LHA/LHD. Crucially three of those countries are part of the JSF consortia buys may occur in the same way that an A buy may happen for us when Typhoon starts to go out of service in the 2030s to meet our obligation to buy a 148 odd JSF.
Good points but the US Marines are a military force unlike anything we can compare. Yes they have STOVL but they also have conventional fast jets and will usually if not ALWAYS operate with a US carrier battle group and if not then they will have USAF AWAC's plus tankers.
Are the Italians and Spain still intending to purchase the F-35?
I believe India is in a right mess with its ex Russian STOBAR carrier and the new build carrier is falling further and further behind schedule but when it does eventually become operational, it will operate multi-role fast jets that will be capable of buddy buddy refuelling, something we will not be capable of doing.
I am led to believe the Russians are converting their carrier to CATOBAR plus the Chinese will also be eventually going down that route.
The Japanese are now a defence force and perhaps might not deploy their force in the same way as our government does so the LHA option might be the most suitable ship but...
We are building huge carriers (huge for our country) and yet they will only ever deploy with a limited number of aircraft.
Question NOT a statement
Would it not have been better for us to have built the latest all singing, all dancing LHA type vessel with the latest F-35B's, attack helicopters, support helicopters and then have the military hardware along with the landing craft. Instead we have these 60,000 ton carriers with their ski jumps and only carrying a nominal number of aircraft.
Thank You N-A-B for the usual VERY constructive reply
