WreckingBall - no one is denying the need for improved technology - it is a question of who should fly it.
However, it is strange that, apart from top speed, none of the current or proposed solutions matches the actual capability of the 3A Sea King, especially on range.
I heard that a shiny new aircraft wouldn't go out past 170 nm recently so a poor old Sea King had to go and do the job.
All the cobblers talked about improved response times and the ability to reduce the numbers of bases is exactly that - cobblers.
Strange also that apparently some bidders want to know why they can't go for all military crews in their bids - maybe our proposed 66 might go up a bit.