Foldie,
Your point is very interesting. Whenever this topic crops-up it seems that the RN immediately look to place the blame on the RAF for the loss of the fleet's AEW capability provided by the Gannet. However, this argument always struck me as coming from a postion of hindsight, because if they had truly appreciated their own vulnerabilty they would have acquired an AEW helicopter and a CIWS before the Falklands War showed that such equipment was vital to defend against low-level attack aircraft and sea-skimming missiles.