I find myself totally agreeing with Advo and Soddim.
But, in fairness and yes, I fully understand scope creep, etc, BAe and EADS have got away with far too much for far too long. Its about bloody time the tail stopped wagging the dog.
If this means cancelling A400M and buying another off the shelf solution instead, so be it. If it means cancelling the carriers, so be it.
We need to understand first and above all, what the hell we want our service personnel to do, what their role is, whether the UK still sees itself as the worlds PCSO, or not. THEN decide what you're going to need to fulfil that remit and budget accordingly.
If that means the likes of Westlands finally biting the dust, BAe closing Woodford, etc, then sorry, but thats the price you pay. Deliver the shagging thing on time on budget or we go to someone who will. We should all be heartily sick of these companies taking the piss out of us.
Dunno if Osborne will actually be able to do anything about it... knowing Osborne, probably not. But thats not to say that he's not thinking along the right lines.