Surely you're not suggesting that the cost of operating a few Harriers is the source of all the economic woes of the UK/Italy/Spain?
By the way, I have noticed that my previous attempts to post a link to the RNR Air Branch magazine failed, due to an unwanted full stop at the end. How ironic!
Here it is again in PDF format, and it should work.
Additionally, relooking at the page on the MOD website that
detailed cuts to the surface fleet - I notice the following:
The White Paper announced that the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal would be decommissioned, and, accordingly, she will finally be withdrawn from service at the end of this month.
It also announced that either her sister ship HMS Illustrious or the Landing Platform Helicopter ship HMS Ocean would be withdrawn from service following a short study into which of these two ships was better able to provide the capability we require over the next few years.
This work has now been completed and it has been decided that HMS Ocean should be retained to provide our landing platform helicopter capability for the longer term.
HMS Illustrious will be withdrawn from service in 2014, once Ocean has emerged from a planned refit and been returned to a fully operational state. This will ensure that we retain the ability to deliver an amphibious intervention force from the sea and maintain an experienced crew to support the later introduction into service of the new Queen Elizabeth Class carrier.
Experienced in what? Flying operations?
Maybe I was being hard of understanding, but when the SDSR was announced by the Prime Minister (with an angry looking Dr Fox sitting next to him) it was intended to get rid of either
Illustrious or
Ocean straight away?