I honestly can't envision UK forces acting on our own anywhere serious - we don't have the ships, the aircraft, the army or the supply chain to do so
We might be able to roll up off some failing state and rescue our ex-pats and tourists or even put a small force ashore but I suspect that is restricted to West Africa & the Caribbean as a capability
Can anybody authoritative on here make a case that the new carrier with F35s will be able to carry out any unilateral UK operations
where the F35 capability is needed? I can't think of any scenario (except just maybe FI) where we would ever use the capability except as part of a US led operation.
Leave aside operations to rescue/protect British interests in West Africa/Caribbean - the F35s would not be needed for that.
This entire procurement is a massive strategic blunder that is going to tie us into US foreign policy for decades to come. And look where that got us for the last decade or so.