Uk F4 Phantoms being tested on HMS Eagle 1969

[mrclark303]

"Sadly I fear these two carriers may turn out to be the most expensive white elephants in MOD history".

A very good chance of that!

Underutilised and not properly supported.

It's like our Thypoon fleet, the idea in principle of a single multirole fighter shared across the squadrons is predictively turning into a fleets within fleets situation, with retrospective rework to the current build standard,
(batch 1 aside) either watered down, or probably, just outright abandoned.

Another waisted opportunity.

Don't get me started on Tempest, more chance of me being the first man on Mars than that ever getting wind under its wings.....

Re the French Navy fast jet pilots, they are very highly regarded and sought after in industry.

A friend used to work for a defence contractor and virtually all their pilots, were ex French Navy, the intense stress ( professional and family) on such a small group, made them easy to lure into the private sector by all accounts!