Something to be said for all of the points above, especially the issue of cosidering the beast as a capability rather than a chunk of hardware that an individual Corps owns. Increasingly, the reliance on each other's information will become important if we are to make the most of a battlespace that is, after all, multi-dimensional. ASTOR might be thought of as an 'info-exchange hub' in this respect, as well as a pure sensor platform.
In order to project the capabilities of Apache, though, it will need to be moved to wherever El Presidente Tony wants it. The RAF is best to do this in quick time, but once 'in-theatre' (why can't we say Out of Area anymore?), it needs a base and the RN represents a pretty good option I would think.
One thing occurs to me though; I heard that Apache had not been delivered marinised? If true, presumably the costs of making them able to live at sea would be significant?
