The UK's decision to drop the F-35B short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) variant of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter in favour of the F-35C Carrier Variant (CV), along with moves to adapt one or both of the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers with catapults and arrestor gear, poses a series of challenges for the BAE Systems-led Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA).rnWhile the Queen Elizabeth-class design has been developed from the outset to enable adaptation for 'cats and traps', the planning assumption under the previous government had been that both vessels would enter service configured for STOVL and/ or short rolling, vertical landing (SRVL) operations.
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