Postwar naval aid as an alliance bargain

What did the United States gain from giving Britain naval aviation assistance on generous postwar terms?

The return was strategic rather than a simple payment. The United States wanted a capable British ally for Cold War naval operations, and each partner expected support when its interests required it.

The Mutual Defense Assistance Program offered more generous terms than Lend-Lease while helping preserve a useful ally for a possible war with the Soviet Union. British anti-submarine warfare and carrier-based airborne early warning made the Royal Navy more useful to US Cold War planning. The expected return was British support in the operations a future war would require. Britain was decolonising and moving away from its former world-policing role while the United States took on wider responsibilities. Assistance fitted the interests of both countries, within an alliance in which each expected support in return.