The RAF preferred to maintain two fast-jet types whose service lives overlapped, allowing one to mature while the other remained at peak capability and avoiding the deeper capability cycle of a single fleet. That institutional model depended on their missions being distinct enough to defend both fleets before the Treasury. A carrier-based F-35C would have overlapped with Eurofighter and Tempest, while CATOBAR would also invite comparison between naval E-2 Hawkeye and land-based E-7 Wedgetail early-warning fleets. Apparent duplication could reopen the inter-service competition that had helped destroy both CVA-01 and the RAF's preferred strike-aircraft plan. The F-35B and STOVL decision was therefore a compromise over whole-force lifecycle and budget politics as well as a technical choice.
Notable Point · 18:33-22:37
How the RAF's two-fast-jet model shaped carrier aviation
The RAF's preference for overlapping fast-jet generations, together with the prospect of parallel Wedgetail and Hawkeye fleets, helped make F-35C and CATOBAR politically difficult choices.