CirrusF - actually I think a lot of CGS' thinking is muddled and reminds me of the tactic of throwing a lot of mud in the hope that something will stick.
As discussed on the other defence at a crossroads thread, if CGS thinks high tech cyber war is the way ahead then you don't need thousands and thousands of line infantry.
As for the Tucano, it appears to me to be a nice idea, but simplistic thinking designed to appease the RAF by offering the chance to get a lot of airframes for the price of a couple of Typhoons. Yes it would be cheap, easy to operate, simple to maintain, cheap etc etc. But is the Tucano a well armed recce platform? Well I can't comment with any great authority on is it well armed - that is very much a relative question. Well armed in comparison to what? In comparison to a King Air then possibly. In comparison to a traditional CAS platform, then definitely not.
As a recce platform? It probably has a limited utility as an NTISR platform rather than a recce platform - you might fit a Tucano to a RAPTOR pod, but you certainly aren't fitting a RAPTOR pod to a Tucano! And whilst using Tucano as an NTISR platform will provide some sort of capability it will not be in the same ball park as a traditional recce sensor producing high resolution exploitable imagery. Remeber - you can collect all the happy snaps you like, but if they aren't exploitable then you may as well not have bothered.
In short if it's Tucano or nowt, then I'd go with the Tucano. But it wouldn't be my primary choice for either mission profile.