That doesn't read right, if you chop just the Puma and that equates to 2000 RAF, how does Puma AND Herc equate to 1500 ? scrap Puma and retire Tonkas early equates to even less at 1250 RAF.
It does make you wonder, waste all that money on Puma upgrade and then scrap it. Surely the fleet utilisation of Chinook will go up as it tries to take up the slack, as will operating costs as a wildcat or Puma must be cheaper to operate than Chinook, and surely a lot of the Navy stuff will not be compatible with operating with and hangering a larger helicopter such as Merlin? Or am I missing something?