1. CATOBAR means no onboard AEW (I'm not counting the Crowsnest on the Merlin). An E2 Hawkeye has longer loiter time, range and higher ceiling (granting a long

1. CATOBAR means no onboard AEW (I'm not counting the Crowsnest on the Merlin). An E2 Hawkeye has longer loiter time, range and higher ceiling (granting a longer detection range). 2. Airborne refueling from a carrier is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing. STOVL aircraft have short legs anyways, so being able to provide dedicated tanking is essential. 3. Practice landings is an extra cost? How? With STOVL aircraft you still need to practice landings and takeoffs, and landings are still quite complicated. This will have no impact on the mix of aircraft that would or could be deployed. 4. Safety - the track record for STOVL is far far worse than normal aircraft. The Harrier has an atrocious rate of Class A accidents. Hopefully the F-35B will be better than past STOVL aircraft, but there's no indication that it will be safer than more traditional aircraft.