What I cannot understand is with 22 more Chinooks in theatre surely the need for CAS (ala Harriers) for them is even more vital. Your putting an expensive asset in the air carrying a large number of troops which is very vunerable to ground fire - sounds like a recipe for disaster . As for the Reaper arguements - they are useful against an enemy that has no air defence system -however we won't always fight battles like that so the idea that they are the be all and end all is farsical.
We will end up post Afghanistan with an air force which is optimised for wars against lightly armed enemies. Hardly a prudent way to plan for future defence -will we then really need a force of seventy Chinooks to support an army that by then will be largely U.K based???