oldgrubber
I'm sorry, I can't give you the figures, but the costs of the Red Arrows to the Military budget is minimal, it's tiny. Hotel bills are paid for by the airshow/display organisers. Fuel is very heavily subsidised by Total and BAe and others very heavily sponsor other areas. But as for the exact figures, then you will have to do some digging around - I'm sure they are all out there somewhere.
But the point I am trying to make is that just cutting them will not affect what gets to the front line at all. Does anyone seriously think that the savings made from disbanding the Red Arrows (or anything else for that matter) goes into the MOD bank account? Does anyone seriously think that is the case? The hard fact is that the savings will go to the treasury, and they will be spent on asylum seekers, benefit scroungers and the likes. IT WILL NOT GO TO THE MILITARY, LET ALONE THE FRONT LINE.
Flap62
I don't think that the public think that all is good with the RAF simply because the Red Arrows have not been disbanded. I doubt if there are many people in the country who haven't heard of the Nimrod debacle and they will have seen today that we said goodbye to Harrier. I just can't see them sitting at home thinking 'ah, all must be well with the RAF - we still have the Red Arrows!'
If we want to make some serious savings, then lets stop the wastage at Main Building on fancy chairs, original oil paintings, high quality TVs everywhere and God knows what else. At least most of the UK populus get the opportunity to see the Red Arrows, unlike main Building!!