Farewell to the Harrier

[The Few]

With the retirement of the Harrier what do they intend to do with the carrier fleet? Early retirement as well?

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by The Few

With the retirement of the Harrier what do they intend to do with the carrier fleet? Early retirement as well?

The Flagship carrier HMS Ark Royal is gone. After its refit is done HMS Ilustrious will continue as helicopter carrier until it gets decomisioned in 2014. The Royal navy will then have HMS Ocean (an Amphibious Assault ship) fresh from refit working as a helicopter platform flying Sea kings/Merlins, Lynx Wildcats and Apache. This will continue until the new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth enters service as the worlds biggest Helicopter carrier. Then they will have to decide which carrier they will convert for fixed wing aircraft, the QE or the 2nd new carrier that has to be built even though nobody wants it - HMS Prince of Wales. They will then be able to have USN Super Hornets and French Navy Rafales operating from there untill the F35C finaly arives.

[flynlion]

Prince of Wales is s'posed to be big enough for Hornets? Wow. Those big assed, full sized "super" carriers cost a fortune. Seems like it would be cheaper to keep a few smaller "helicopter" ships around complete w Harriers and add the F-35's later as they become available. What am I missing?