Cynical - Probably justified.
However perhaps a timely reminder that if you are going to decimate UK Defence Plc then perhaps the chaps armed with the pens of destruction need to sit in their ivory towers with some distance away from being Afghan-centric and consider:
Defence of the Realm.
Obligations to UK worldwide responsibility. (Commonwealth?)
Commitments to UK Defence pacts. (NATO) (Euro?) (UN)
...and ensure above all else that Defence of the Realm is maintained with a satisfactory autonomous military capability. For if defence of the UK mainland is dependent upon any of our 'allies' we really have hit rock bottom, and are vulnerable: