Widger I think we could be looking at a very much reduced armed forces in terms of both people and equipment and some of the equipment not being as capable as hoped.
The forecasts by the likes of the OECD paint a fairly bleak economic picture for the UK and the current govt is trying to spin its way out of trouble till the election when they will be out on their ear. I suspect the next govt will find the state of the countries finances are worse than they imagined and at that point I suspect the UK armed forces will have to scale back its wish list for a few years to come.
I hope I am wrong as I am accutely aware of how much the navy needs the carriers as the centre of the new Royal navy and both the FAA and RAF need JSF however I am suspecting that both services are going to be disappointed.