Possibly it is a shame for the RAF. But remember that we never buy what the armed services think they need (because they are always preparing for the last war - Eurofighter anyone?).
And we can never have anything that looks like what we might need - because all military procurement has to take at least 10 years and all equipment has to be so specialised that it is completely unique (and dissimilar from whatever it was modified from).
So on that basis the only real benefit is in where the procurement puts the jobs - regardless of whether those jobs produce useable or reliable equipment.
And then there is the idea that you can split the procurement across companies and even countries to ensure the jam can go almost anywhere......
Any wonder we have the present situation?