Do you remember the Royal Navy's issue with deciding between having cats on their ships or not?
I do.
I pounded the Royal Navy like a piece of cold meat over the decision to go to cats and then back to STOVL.
Hindsight is twenty twenty and I can definitely say they made the wrong choice. They bought into the utility of STOVL despite watching what the US Navy was going to be doing with UCAVs.
No matter what you think of the F-35, it can be assumed by almost everyone that UCAVs at sea...especially those large enough to be launched by carrier...are going to dominate in a few short years.
The Royal Navy instead chose a legacy capability instead of embracing future opportunities.
Instead of joining with the USN to launch UCAVs at a target they'll instead have to team up with the USMC to provide support against targets that are closer, and lightly defended.
