I don't disagree, and the 10 for 1 statement was a bit of throwaway hyperbole harking back to Mountbatten's line that persuaded the Aussies to drop out of TSR2 in favour of a larger number of F111s. I remember back in 2009/10 when we were looking at extending the Harrier OSD beyond 2016 we decided 2018 was easy, 2023 was achievable but 2026 was going to be very difficult (much as my heart wished to say otherwise).
But my real point is one about the danger of having a small fleet of highly capable assets. The small numbers mean you're reluctant to risk losses, so you end up not prepared to risk using the extra capability. Another example would be my view that we'd have a more usable battle force with 8 CVSs than 2 QECs - because we could afford to risk losing a couple.
PDR