mission flexibility owing to closer proximity to the target
That's really my point. How close to the targets is the QE going to get? The ROA of a fully loaded F35B , particularly in LO fit, would necessitate QE sitting well within range of anti shipping missiles. Add to that the list of currently unfounded enablers identified in the recent NAO report, and the capability appears somewhat impotent.
If the carrier will limited to projecting soft power, so be it, but if we want it to do more than that, then let's resource and equip it to do so.
I'm certain any adversary that the QE could be used against, is more than able to make a capability assessment of the threat it presents....