As far as the Falklands go, if the Brits were doing so well why did they get so many small boys pasted while covering the landings? The answer is that they didn't feel safe moving their carrier close enough to establish air superiority over the islands.
As far as the love in with the Harrier, I always felt sorry for my friends flying Brit Harriers. When we were in the Gulf they would have to download most of their weapons due to the warm weather. They take off by running up their engines to 90%, wiping out the controls, releasing the brakes and going to full throttle. When they reach the ramp they slap the nozzles to 60 degrees and look at the EPR indicator. If they see less than 1.04, they eject. Not a great way to make a living. At least they have a beer waiting for them when they get back.
The problem with the small carriers is that they cannot conduct cyclic operations. You need a flight deck large enough to shoot half and then recover the other half. You need enough airplanes on the deck to make sizable packages.
***With cheap cargo-conversion flight decks, you'd have a whole bunch of ships. You could run more sorties, and if you felt it necessary to run cyclic operations you could save one or two cargo-carrier decks just for refuel/rearm operations. The force multiplier effect is much greater than with a supercarrier. More bang for your buck.
As far as the Falklands go, if the Brits were doing so well why did they get so many small boys pasted while covering the landings? The answer is that they didn't feel safe moving their carrier close enough to establish air superiority over the islands.
***There are always losses in amphibious operations. The last time I checked, the Brits kicked the Argentinians' arses.
As far as the love in with the Harrier, I always felt sorry for my friends flying Brit Harriers. When we were in the Gulf they would have to download most of their weapons due to the warm weather. They take off by running up their engines to 90%, wiping out the controls, releasing the brakes and going to full throttle. When they reach the ramp they slap the nozzles to 60 degrees and look at the EPR indicator. If they see less than 1.04, they eject. Not a great way to make a living. At least they have a beer waiting for them when they get back.
***With the Harrier's service record I feel sorry for those who are on the business end of its ordinance. If Saddam had managed to knock out airfields, the Harrier would have been the only operational jet aircraft. Its ability to "slap the nozzles" is unique and makes it the hardest aircraft to kick out of the sky in a dogfight, and its ability to operate from anywhere & ground-loiter makes it a very formidable aircraft.
>>The answer is that they didn't feel safe moving their carrier close enough to establish air superiority over the islands.<<
Actually, it was the threat of subs and the AAA threat, not an AA threat.