I am not the one pushing glossy magazine fantasy propaganda.
Are you sure about that as you seem to be pushing Waddo as the center of the RAF quite strongly.
Unfortunately the troubled recent history of the Mk2, the desperate cuts needed and the rhetoric about slashing legacy/cold war projects and capability all point towards the Nimrod and the chopping block to me.
This could equally apply to the assets at Waddo, all of whom have had issues over the years. Its a given that the R1 will be gone within a few months and Sentinel is surely one of the legacy/cold war projects you mention. If this were to be the case, why not the opposite of what you propose
If they keep the new rod what odds on it being based at the home of ISTAR waddo?
Move whats left upto Kinloss. The station has a newer infratructure and could easily accomodate a few E3's and a couple of Shadows.
there are a lot of mushrooms at Kinloss just now and the Farm has been closed for a few years
Having served at both bases I would say the opposite is true. There were far more people at Waddo who refused to accept there was an Air Force outside of RAF Lincolnshire than people at Kinloss who refused to move down south.
The bottom line is, both Stations should be looking over their sholders very carefully as neither know what the future holds. I would love to see both come through the next few months unscathed, but sadly from the tone being set by the politicians something big
is going to go. We can argue the pros and cons for every platform, but in the end it will do no good as money will more than likely drive the final decisions and not any real capability requirement.