Of course the Jag can't carry a GR7/9 payload - but how often does a GR7 go out and do recce? How often would one PWIII be better than none? How often would using a Jag spiker with GR7 bombers be better than using hours on a Harrier?
Isn't there a place for an aircraft that can strafe, or deliver a couple of pods of CRV7?
No-one's pretending that the Jag would be as useful as a GR7, but when the GR7s have to last to 2017 or beyond, and when there's a critical shortage of CAS, less useful is still a useful augmentation, surely.
Besides, BV's now shagged his way around Lincs and needs to go somewhere more austere and unpleasant to contemplate his youthful follies.
PS: Two months type conversion and 13 months ego upgrade?