3rd rate force?
In an article today, the Sunday Times says that we will shortly have less attack aircraft than Sweden, 120 as opposed to 121 in Sweden. It goes onto suggest that with so few pilots now needed for fast jets it would be cheaper to train them at the NATO facility in the States and then shut Valley saving even more money, it notes that the SAR training unit there is due to close shortly.
US 3150
China 3000
Russia 2180
India 600
France 300
Italy 227
Spain 140
Sweden 121
UK 120
Belgium 72
Cant link you to the article as it's subscription only.