Is it all in a name? Place yourself in the politician's shoes - got to cut expenditure, lots of it. The military have this thing called Nimrod and you recollect a scandal involving a funny shaped thing with a bulbous nose & tail when you were a teenager. You also have a bit of paper called Haddon-Cave where the same word appears. The military brass come in with their list of big projects and the 'N' word appears again - it looks as if it is running late with a bit of risk. To me, it is a politician's no-brainer.
Of course the real argument is about capability gaps and how to fill these.