That's what we've been saying all along. In their proposal the CAA claim to have taken a leading role in the development of the low-powered, low-cost transponder.
But when you ask them just what that means, they look all shifty and tell you that it is not for them to mess with the market.
My own view is that they know that sailplanes, microlights and very light aircraft won't go for anything over £1k, and have sort of been saying that Mode S won't be mandated unless there is a cheap one available - at the Safety evening a figure of around £500 was bandied about.
But, the CAA are not doing anything to make this utopian piece of kit happen.
By all acounts, those in the know are finding the CAA very hard to deal with on this matter. They have put in years of work with the aim of having Mode S installed on everything, and they are not going to let a small thing like making 28,000 aircraft owners pay out huge sums of money stop them from going ahead.
My gut feeling is that we will see this go to judicial review.