Have I missed something? Did the PM not state that Tornado only remains to cover the Afghanistan deployment. That being the case, the remainder of the Fleet after the initial drawdown (half the current Squadrons) gets chopped in 2015 when we leave.
Also and now we have opted for the F-35C, does it not make sense for this to be the version adopted (bar the USAF and Marine Corps) by other NATO allies and Australia? This would allow co-operation with other friendly nations as well as the US and French, further building on the point made by the PM and considered so important that it was worth delaying the carrier(s) to alter their design at an estimated cost of £500 Million.
