"if the RN can find other, lower priority, programmes to sacrifice, they should have done so in the first place!"
I doubt this is a true story but if the unexpected and
total los
s of RAF MPA capability due to the SDSR meant that the Navy was looking at options for a fixed wing LRMP/ASW platform even at the cost of losing something else why not.
Non-joint, muddled and self centered thinking is what has created this capability gap. After all, who was it that offered up MPA and hence Nimrod as well as Harrier in favour of Tornado.
