No kidding, but BAe Systems has more workshare in the F35B variant of the JSF, and as Britain’s biggest defence (and only super-sized) contractor, they have a lot of clout over HM Government defence procurement policy. This is why they steered the ship towards operating the F35B instead of the F35C, or even worse, a foreign aircraft like the Dassault Rafale or SAAB Gripen in which they had no workshare at all.
If I had my way we’d have got two amphibious assault ships capable of operating the F35Bs to complement carriers built to proper specs, but especially in an age of austerity and declining budgets, that was never going to happen...
They just cannot carry as much fuel and payload as when flung from yhe cats. Sigh of exasperation.
As a Texan residing hundreds of miles from the ocean it bugs the hell out of me that Britain maintains a shadow of a Navy compared to what there should be. They don’t need a massive 1945 force but we still do not live in a world of butterflys and daffodils.