Hmm,

Well how about that fact that the US has sought to get other nations to bear part of the cost of developing the JSF in order to make the plane affordable for the US? The US needs arms exports as much as other nations need to buy arms. In real terms a Spitfire cost c. £100,000 to build in WW2, the Typhoon now costs c. £75,000,00 each, how long before even the US can not afford to develop an aircraft on it’s own?

Also bear in mind the political advantages that the US gets by having the UK along for the ride in it’s military adventures.

It’s not that the arms trade goes just one way. Remember that all US navy pilots are now trained in a UK plane (Hawk) and that the US president will soon be flown around in a UK/Italian helicopter (Merlin) and that the US Marines currently use a UK fighter (Harrier).

Indeed. The only issue is getting the Yankees to agree to release the necessary technical information on the JSF. If they don’t trust us after Iraq when WILL they? 😮

I don’t think we should under estimate the task.

This may be the “only” issue but it seems to me that history shows that when it comes to business the only thing the Americans are interested in is what benifits America. What benifits their “friends” comes a distant second.

Is the UK going to negotiate hard enough to get what it wants?

While I would love to see British planes flying from a British carrier that’s never going to happen. The best hope would be for a navalised Typhoon but that is not totally British. The decision as to which plane to use should be based on what is best for the Navy.

In terms of getting a plane ready for the new carriers then surely the Rafael is the only one that is likely to be ready in time?