Jacko,
All good points and well made. I would agree with you if the RAF still had the ability to project power over strategic distances without relying on HNS and tactical FJ aviation. Sure, you can trot out a whole load of Doctrinal Bolloeux about the Strategic role of Storm Shadow, and yes, if the target set and Int is good enough you can hit an enemy CoG with it......as long as the Release Point is within range of a tactical FJ operating from HNS with AAR or.....a Carrier.. or at a push a Nimrod. Air operations over Strategic range have been left to the AT force by an RAF seemingly obsessed with RAFG concepts of range and payload. It's almost like talking to crusty WO2s in the AAC who base everything on NI circa 1985.....
I agree that the UK, and I use that term deliberately, FJ force is too small. All the more reason for making it more flexible by giving basing options other than HNS. Can T3 Typhoon (or export the T1/T2 jets), buy the full compliment of JSF (more if you can afford it) and invest a little in what's important today, not in a hypothetical peer war in 20 years time. Troops being shot at now need a solid airbridge to supply and rotate them, CASEVAC helos to save them if they bleed, and enough ISTAR/ELINT to prevent them bleeding in the first place.