Originally Posted by
alfred_the_great
Well, for a start, the Flight Safety regime that was in force in the 60s is very different to the one we have today. I'm not sure why we'd waste time and effort on establishing SHOLs for any version of Harrier before we established them for the F-35. Neither can you simply land on an aircraft without a fully worked up Ship, and Flight Deck crew - why would you start that process with a VSTOL aircraft that won't be the main user of the deck when you could use RW and then F-35? Might it be, and give me some latitude here, that the trials and testing programme that has been established might be a relatively efficient way of getting F-35 onto the deck in a reasonable time, and dicking around with that timeline would have disproportionate effect?
Just read what actually transpired during the USMC IOC and wonder!!