Britain, and America, has a economically hard decade ahed.
By the time POW is in the water though the financial state "should" be better (cross-fingers).
Having said that it is inconceivable that POW will be finished without at least the bare minimum of equipment to be able to operate Lightnings "in an emergency". The savings between that and a full complement of maintenance bays is going to be small beer and I can see it being sneaked in sometime before she is finished.
The real story here is the sacrifice of an HMS Ocean replacement (already rumoured) and a cut in Lightning numbers, The second of these is easily rectified by a later buy of lightnings.
The actual article is a mess, typical both of defence reporting in general and of a Murdoch paper in particular.
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