Squirrel 41:
Yes..... as HC 2a-ish.... and then they get to undergo Project JULIUS upgrade. So presumably having just ripped out the cockpit and replaced it, very soon the RAF will, umm, err, rip out the cockpit and replace it. Again.
Oh very bl
dy well done!
(Unless of course there's a sensible and unimpeachable technical reason that we couldn't go direct from the HC3 cockpit to Project JULIUS standard [...])
The idea was to get the aircraft into theatre as soon as possible. Putting them through Julius directly would have delayed that for a few years.