Back to the present: was there really any chance of the RN getting the Hawkeye and Grayhound even if CVF had gone ahead as CTOL?
As for the preference for STOVL supposedly expressed by Their Lordships, I think we ought to remember the problem of the art of the achievable. I still think we need to have embarked fixed wing aircraft before
Queen Elizabeth/
Prince Of Wales/F35B arrive in service - even if it is only a few borrowed AV8Bs attached to NFSF(FW). If ETPS can safely and economically operate small numbers of foreign jets (such as the Alpha Jet or Grippen) then why cannot NFSF(FW) operate say a couple of borrowed AV8Bs to give us a jet for UK based RN fixed wing jocks to fly, to embark on deck, and to contribute to trials and development of landing aids and other equipment? Would this not be an easier and simpler thing to do that the proposal I made
here (over a few posts/pages)?
Or embark foreign ones, talking of which back on
17 December 2010, vecvechookattack wrote:
Originally Posted by vvha
We still need FDO's and flight deck crews. HMS Illustrious will still be embarking Fixed wing aircraft upto and until 2014.
Why is this not happening? Would embarking foreign Harriers be too embarrassing for the Government? Yet the need for training future carrier personnel is acknowledged by the commisioning of facilities like
this - so why not provide some live training at sea for deck crews at al?