why??? they prolly won't have any planes to put on it by time it's commissioned... why??? they prolly won't have any planes to put on it by time it's commissioned... They should be flying the F-35B Lightning II by then. The aircraft are expected to begin trials flying from the Queen Elizabeth in 2018 with a carrier air wing fully operational by 2020.
Ha, I know where you’re coming from, but to be fair the delay from the F35 is on your side of the pond ;)
As far as I can see, the QE will be commissioned around 2016, with the F35’s arriving probably in 2018 or so. So I guess for the intervening 2 and a bit years we will run it with Merlins, Wildcat’s, Chinook’s and Apache.
Although if the USMC wants to roll into a proper sized carrier for once, they’re more than welcome ;)