nobody is suggesting the RAF should divest itself of anything not immediately required - hence the Army not flogging off its AS90's or Ch2 - rather that it reconfigures its 'back-burner' and 'front-burner' priorities,
and be seen to do so. the Army has done this - Armour and Arillery are vastly smaller percentages of the Army than they were in 1991 - capability is still maintained, but emphasis has shifted.
it is complete rubbish for the RAF to use the 'won't fire a shot in anger' excuse for its failure to adjust - the RAF fast jet capability has been the least used part of its fleet for the last 20 years,
knows how many wars since 1991 have shown that the RAF's greatest contribution has been AT SH and ISTAR, yet those capabilities continually get the hind tit in terms of both cash and service priority, in contrast to the rarely used fast jets.
yes the RAF, not least to avoid skill fade and because of the long lead times of aircraft procurement, needs to maintain a rounded fleet - but what it can do, but seems unwilling to do, is to shift the emphasis it places on particular areas within that fleet, and, as i say above, this isn't 'knee-jerk, only-since-2007' stuff, this is 20 years of combined operations to which the RAF has consistently brought the wrong tool set so it can favour the wars it wants to fight, rather than the wars every other cnut gets lumbered with.