How a six-carrier policy could preserve British naval aviation

What happens to British naval aviation if the Royal Navy maintains six fleet carriers after 1945?

Britain either preserves a sovereign carrier-aircraft industry or enters a much deeper Anglo-American development partnership, because six carriers create a durable requirement.

Fleet size shapes the industrial choices available to naval aviation. A standing force of six carriers would create enough continuing demand for Britain to justify designing its own carrier aircraft, much as France protects selected sovereign capabilities. The alternative would be a deeply integrated Anglo-American naval aviation bureau by the era of F-14 successors and F/A-18 development. Either path produces aircraft different from the historical fleet because the carrier requirement remains large, continuous, and politically important.