Re: Weapons ready?
'Three carriers are required because the time for a major refit is greater than the interval between minor refits.'
On previous naval vessels this was true however using modern merchant naval design and operating concepts this has changed. Hence Echo and Enterprise managing more sea days than the 4 survey ships they replaced.
'Yes a rotary wing AWACS is better than none, but the marlin does not have the endurance to maintain coverage for an extended deployment. To keep at least one in the air at all times would mean all your stock would be in maintenance in very short order.'
Well the Sea King's managed it and their endurance is less than the MErlin's so I'm guessing you're just making that up. From memory the Merlin has 5 hours endurance which is longer than the deck cycle the US carriers work to.
'I mentioned that the F35B cannot take of vertically meaning it cannot meaningfully operate from a French carrier. The F35 B cannot be catapult launched, and French carriers have no ski jump.'
The F-35B doesn't need a ski jump to operate from a carrier. In fact if you look at any of the videos of it doing sea trials on YouTube you'll see them operating from a US LPH without a ramp. So it can operate meaningfully from a ship without a ski jump as that's how the USMC intends to operate it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
