Hmm, looks like an RN CVF mafia wind-up....
Widger - yes, it is important for SDR to deal with these things; but given the scale of the likely budget squeeze and the cost of the RN's latest warships - T45 may be able to intercept cricket balls at M3.0, which, whilst useful against the Aussie pace attack next winter, is too expensive at £1bn / pop to be bought in sufficient numbers to actually do the job.
The real issues for the SDR is national ambition and actual capability requirements (as opposed to capability aspirations). I can't think of many line RN N3 types who'd prefer 6 x T45 vs 9 x Horizon for the same cash. Less capable, but quantity does have a quality all it's own.
S41
PS. So bets on how much BAES / NAMA / Eurofighter will charge for a quick and dirty integration of surplus Harpoon onto 1435 Flt's jets then?
