Deliverance
In response to your response, how about this?
Current amraam is good enough, i did not say scrap bvraam it but revert back to the program when more appropriate as we need the money for other operational needs.
As for the MR2, speaking from experience, the global hawk/reaper combination would be more useful and have a longer time on station due to the lack of aar (even with AAR they can stay longerthan the Rod). The MR2 is falling to bits and has a poor serviceabiltiy compared to the serviceabiltiy of UAV's. The global hawk is also a very good platform for the BAMS role backed up by a small force of P-8 bought off the shelf from the US. The MRA4 has no export abilty (profit) and has some major problems that are sucking an exceptional amount of cash into a large black hole, even at this late stage.
Don't think I mentioned the type 45 but as you ask I feel the current numbers should be kept especially if the carriers are completed or else they would be at risk every time they put to see without proper AD cover!
I dont think I mentioned navy merlins either but again as you ask they should be kept in the role they are doing (in case the russkies bring those pesky subs down again!) and as I suggested the PUMA fleet scrapped and replaced with blackhawks/chinooks or the like.
As for the E3 I think you will find that that has been used quite a bit in the past few years around the UK and I am quite happy to keep them as they are a force multiplier and tend to be good to have around when the ruskies come bounding down from the frozen wastelands of the north (again poosible future war.)
One point I forgot to add was around certain types of training where it seems to be expected/high % to fail first time e.g FC, RAF reg etc. I think these courses should be redesigned to achieve a higher first time pass rate as repeating the whole course would be more costly.
I hope this helps your confusion.
I would certainly apprecaite others views on this as well.....