Peter RB,
The US does better than the UK because it spends 4% of its much larger GDP on Defence. In fact the US spends more on Defence than the next 25 largest spenders put together. The RAF still has ageing Air Transport jets because the last government did not increase Defence spending at a time of war. The Services could not afford the additional costs of the War in Afghanistan and modernise its forces at the same time. Finally, the Treasury has always insisted that defence contracts go to UK or European Comapnies even when there is a cheaper alternative somewhere else.
The RAF people you keep having a pop at have worked bl**dy hard over the last week to overcome technical and weather problems that nobody else would have overcome. If you represent all the thanks that they get - I doubt they'll bother again. Fortunately, most sensible troops do recognise the problems and the effort expended and will be grateful when in the end they get home for Christmas.