Ever since the UK became self-sufficient in food and oil, and we ceased to rely on seaborne trade to feed ourselves and provide power and travel, the Royal Navy and the RAF's maritime patrol capability have been redundant. With the end of the cold war, we no longer need airborne early warning. Then there's all this electronic intelligence gathering nonsense.
The Prime Minister is quite capable of committing the army to war without having to rely on intelligence: rest assured that when it comes to saving the world, he knows what is the right thing to do. Its a disgrace that we've wasted so much money on anti-submarine capability, early warning and intelligence gathering for so long when the money was desperately needed for more social workers and expansion of the probation service.
The C130 is quite capable of replacing both the Royal Navy and Nimrod, in fact, with that big bomb bay and the doors that open at the back it would make a really neat bomber and at a pinch, with some sidewinders hung on the wings we could use it for air defence.