Originally Posted by a1bill
Shaping a New Combat Capability for 21st Century Operations: The Coming of the F-35B to the New British Carrier | SLDInfo
Group Captain Townsend: As an airman, I like anything that enhances my ability to deliver air power, and the ship certainly does that. The ship has been tailor-made from first principles to deliver F-35 operational output.
The ship is part of the F35 air system. I think this is the key change to where we were in Joint Force Harrier where the ship was really just a delivery vehicle. The ship was just a runway.
The Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers are much more than that.
To my mind, nothing illustrates the dichotomy between RN and RAF doctrine better than these statements. The RN has always viewed embarked RW and FW aircraft as integrated components of a warship's weapons system like its guns, missiles (including land-attack), torpedoes, CIS, EW, on board and off board sensors, etc. F-35s may well be interchangeable with/complementary to a QE class carrier's embarked SH, AH, UAVs, etc., depending on the role and mission of the ship and usually within a Task Group bringing many more capabilities to the party.