Oh this is all nonsense! Pardon an OASC reject chipping in here but I can't hold back any longer, and besides the Rioja is flowing nicely
Jacko your arguments just don't hold water. How can you blithely state that UK PLC has decided autonomous ops have simply been abandoned and that's that? This is such a massive change in our role in the world! The money is there, its just that our govt has made a decision not to fund any necessary mods/upgrade. Which begs the question why? As I see it it's either;
Utter incompetence: Not impossible but I find it hard to believe even a Lab govt could not see this.
Yank arm-twisting: Never underestimate the depths to which the US will sink to maintain mil and political hegemony, they do it by spending lots of dosh on their own mil, and stopping by any means foreign competition - they didn't like BVRAAM did they? M52, TSR2, German stealth, UK stealth are all examples of 'projects cancelled'. Of course we are by no means 'rivals' to the US, but the more we are impotent the more influence they have with their power of veto - real politik at its most basic. Was it all part of some AMRAAM deal? We get them if we scrap SH shortly after? Labour have a disgraceful record of doing such things, tho usually it's for money to prop up a failing economy.
As an aside; I believe Turkey was offered 30bn USD just to let US troops invade Iraq from the north, I wonder what the UK got for participating, nothing I suspect.
Or... and I wish: BaeSystems have some super stealth long-range bomber/fighter that can provide cover, if it ever gets out the hangar of course.
As always there is something we're not being told about scrapping SH, [and giving so much notice to the world] cos the stated reasons are just rubbish! We are being reduced to a glorified 'home guard' and being expected to rely on countries like France for anything more. France!! Ferrchrissakes!!