Originally Posted by
jindabyne
Thus far, a white elephant. A deck with no air complement, thanks to Mr Cameron. Hopefully not needed within the next few years.
I wish the current crew well. I hope that they and their further seamates will adapt to their role safely. It will take much time, thanks again to Mr Cameron's lack of foresight. Had he retained a core of the Harrier fleet, the task would have been far more expeditious, and safe.
Bon voyage.
One reason for having a carrier is to carry lots of ASW helicopters for long range task group ASW, but clearly you are referring to fixed wing aircraft. The plan is to start embarking jets next year - and yes it will take time to regenerate the capability.
However, I think it worth noting that pre SDSR 10 the plan was to embark Harriers aboard the CVS as often as possible in order to ramp up skills. Even without retaining any Harriers ourselves, not having the STOVL/change to CTOL/back to STOVL debacle and associated political toxicity would have made it easier to deal with the skills issue.
I am thinking of the Whole Ship aspects, and in particular the things spoken of
here.