The proposed fighter was tied to the Royal Navy's effort to field contemporary British air-to-air weapons, including Red Top, and improve fleet air defense. Its operational attraction was launch tempo: aircraft could roll in sequence rather than queue for a catapult cycle. Alert fighters could therefore reinforce the combat air patrol without waiting for a catapult to be reset. The comparison with the later Aegis system concerns rapid reaction to incoming threats, while Red Top is judged by 1960s rather than end-of-service standards.
Chapter · 13:34-16:30
Rolling V/STOL launches for Cold War fleet defense
The Royal Navy valued V/STOL fighters for rapidly reinforcing combat air patrols without waiting for carrier catapults to reset.