In early June, the first F-35B Lightning Joint Strike Fighter landed on the Prince Of Wales, the second Queen Elizabeth-class carrier. Even though the pilot had a deck the size of three football pitches on 65,000 tonnes of steel at his disposal, this moment was a special one for the resurgence of the Royal Navy's traditional carrier groups in their fifth generation, as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace commented. With their short take-off and vertical landing capabilities, up to 36 of the F-35Bs flown jointly by the Navy and Air Force can be taken on board. And the Army will also be able to play its part by embarking its attack helicopters alongside the Navy's ASW rotorcraft.
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