"What does appear to be missing is some longer term thinking instead of the sticking plaster approach we appear to be taking at present."
NURSE, not really true. There are lots of people 'thinking' about long term procurement and availability. However, you can think as much as you like but if Gordon Brown is not willing to put some cash in the coffers not much is going to change.
I do agree that across the entire military fleet we do have too many types. The Puma is not dying on its arse quite yet and is still doing a very valuable job, the Sea King is in a similar position but without these two fleets Merlin and Chinook could not do what they are doing plus the extra work-load. 'Sticking Plasters' in the short to medium term is the only option unfortunately. The Merlin is a capable a/c and is doing a good job, the crews want to broaden there the Merlins portfolio so its not just MNDSE but we are not going to get rid of it now. I agree with previous post though that a chinook and Puma sized a/c offers a good degree of mission coverage but that does not mean we should just wipe the other fleets off that map.