[QUOTE Work was found for it to do but that's not the same thing.[/QUOTE]
Interesting. I always had a fairly cynical view of the utility of Sentinel but some time ago I met a PJHQ planner who said that the data was ‘absolutely vital’ and that in Afganistan, ‘nothing moved without Sentinel MTI data’ - at the planning stage that is presumably.
However, it is an asset primarily used away from home shores (I believe that the risk an invasion of the U.K. mainland by armed forces is reasonably low!) and with the declining appetite for foreign intervention you can see how it is an easy capability to drop when finances are tight. Once the programme, and the required rolling updates, were strangled under SDSR then writing was on the wall for a premature retirement no matter what.
Genuinely sorry for what it means to all the Raytheon guys. All the RAF guys will no doubt move elsewhere.