"Of course, if the RAF's Typhoon had been specced from the outset with the cannon, none of this discussion would be necessary."
staggeringly unlikely of course, indeed so far from the realms of possibility as to be discounted without further thought, but imagine if the Typhoon/GR4 had actually used all its ammunition in a previous engagement?
Crab is an asset, an expendible asset to be used to achieve outcomes the nation sees fit and in evermore hazardous ways as the stakes - for the nation, not the individual Crab - increase. if the greatest priority of the state were the lives and aircraft of Crab then said Crab would not be in the 'Stan, they would be sat in a bunker in middle England with 600ft of overhead concrete protection, wearing NBC suits and with a stockpile of food and water lasting for the next thousand years.
this 'discussion' says many things about the RAF, none of them good.
Crab has an over-inflated sense of his own importance and can't handle unpleasently rigorous intellectual debate regarding the comparative importance of his own life/aircraft and the requirements of the state he serves.