The NATO requirements were technically adventurous, combining high speed with vertical or short takeoff, tactical radius, stores, and in some variants nuclear delivery. British proposals came from English Electric, Hawker Siddeley, Vickers, Armstrong Whitworth, and Shorts. The aerospace industry saw sustained V/STOL investment as a specialized capability Britain could bring to allied programs and export markets. Against that background, CVA-01's conventional CATOBAR design appears strikingly separate from the country's accumulated work on alternative flight-deck systems.
Chapter · 26:17-28:48
NBMR-3 prompted a wide field of British V/STOL designs
Mach 2, dispersed operations, nuclear delivery, and useful payload demands drove numerous British NBMR-3 concepts and encouraged a national V/STOL export niche.