"you cannot guarantee you will get the latest variant nor a full technology transfer."
Nut - I'm not sure the UK can afford either for a significant fleet of modern combat aircraft. Most countries in the world are beholden to others to provide arms - especially combat aircraft - I'm afraid the UK would rather be bankers and media folk than have a decent sized engineering capability - you make more money that way . It's part of a long and steady decline, which as you say, goes back well over 50 years