Britain is apparently getting cold feet about this whole scam now.

  • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml
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    3 months ago

    The MoD opted for the short take-off and vertical landing-capable F-35B, due to a lack of arresting wires – which catch jets as they land – on the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

    However, this capability also makes the F-35B the most expensive version of the plane and gives it a more limited maximum range and payload than others.

    Couldn’t they have just attached these arresting wires? Or maybe the Elizabeth class carriers aren’t long enough?

    Either way, this article is really full of some wild statements. Like this

    “Beyond that, I don’t see much fiscal room for additional orders in the foreseeable future and, in any case, if there was additional money … I would put it into weapons and maintenance and spares, to improve the combat capability and availability.”

    • Magos_Galactose@lemmygrad.ml
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      3 months ago

      Couldn’t they have just attached these arresting wires? Or maybe the Elizabeth class carriers aren’t long enough?

      They would also need aircraft catapults alongside those wires to operate the C-variant of F-35. Even then, QE-class is certainly long enough to have both. As shown in size comparison below, QE-class is 20000 tons heavier and at least 20 meters longer than Fr*nch’s Charles de Gaulle-class, which is a STOBAR carrier.

      As to why QE-class didn’t have those stuffs? As you could probably guess, budget cut.