Evalu8ter,
Not an odd comment at all, it is a standard Tory practice, witness the premature retirement of the Vulcan ahead of the Tornado introduction, the early disbandment of the Canberra
PR squadrons ahead of the introduction of the Tornado GR1A, the halving of 8 Squadrons complement well ahead of the E-3 introduction, and the supreme example of the art in Cameron's retirement of the Harrier and the carriers a decade ahead of the introduction of their replacements, all announced as deliberate 'capability windows'.
I agree with you re the 737 commonality of the P-8 and E-7, perhaps they could take it a stage further and buy/lease BBJ as a replacement for the 146's?
As to austerity, I think we are going to have to agree to disagree about that now much maligned policy!
HAS59,
I do agree with you about use of money and resources, but ELINT? Surely that is the role of 51 Sqn and their highly specialised assets, with some help from 14 Squadron and the Defender R2's now that they are RAF. The E-7 is a direct E-3D Sentry AEW1 replacement in SAEW, or AWACS or ASACS as the role now seems to be called.
The Reaper/Protector may well go a long way to providing a replacement capability, just as long as the RAF makes sure that it also buys the sensors, they do have history here!