The line that made me laugh in the AIN article was the one about "The MoD told AIN that a decision would be made late this year, and the R1s would be extended in service if necessary."
As they are shutting down the primary establishment that looks after the mission sytems in March 2011, with a reduction to 40% of the original staff from March 2010 that seems a little incorrect. The technical staff there have pretty much been told they no longer fit into the MoD view of 'decider not provider', but they could relocate to Abbey Wood and become project managers......
Also Interesting to see that the DES Nimrod group have 3 posts set up for handling TUPE if you check the email list on the great DII system.