Some have suggested that the Lockheed Martin F-35C carrier variant is better than the short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B, citing the increased range of the former. Surely the whole point of a carrier is that it lets you move the starting air base closer to the target.
This proximity not only lets a shorter-range aircraft reach the target: it also means the aircraft can get there quicker and carry out more sorties in a given time.
STOVL aircraft can operate in a wider range of sea states. If the UK had been operating McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms in the Falklands war, they would have been unable to fly for much of the time: vital when the carrier is so often the only available military base.
It would be a mistake to view the UK F-35B as just a carrier aircraft: it is to be a joint asset, able to operate from carriers, but not tied to them. In many recent campaigns, rough strip airfields were set up or captured within the land being fought over, from which helicopters - and V/STOL aircraft - are able to operate even closer to the theatre than carrier aircraft. An F-35C, using catapults and arrestor wires, would clearly require a much more extensive land base before its deployment could advance inland.
Given that all recent UK defence reviews have favoured carrier capability, the F-35B is surely the best choice.
Mike Wheatley Waterlooville, Hampshire, UK
Source: Flight International
