500e - you seem to be under the misconception that SARH and milSAR will be 2 different entities - that is not so and the taxpayer won't be paying twice. The 12 SAR flights that presently exist will all be there post 2012 (except that Prestwick has to move but not very far - politics!!). Those 12 flight will be manned primarily by civilian crews except that 66 military personnel will be embedded into some (probably 3) of those flights with the favourites being Culdrose, Valley and Lossiemouth because they are all on large military stations.
The MoD retains a foothold in UKSAR but the rest of the aircrew and provision of aircraft and engineering is all civilian and provided by the winning bidder.
What is bizarre is that the MoD will be paying 70% of the cost of SARH despite only having a 3rd of the manpower in uniform.