davejb, I agree with your condemnation of those who conspired to bring UK Military Airworthiness to its knees, and of course they should face the consequences of their actions. Ordering a subordinate to suborn the regulations is in itself an offence under Military Law, ie the issuing of an illegal order which should not only be disobeyed but also reported. When a superior to whom the offence is reported then chooses to discipline the complainant and support the perpetrator they in turn commit an offence, and so the cycle goes on, generating sufficient material to fuel enough Courts Martial to match any series of show trials of the 1930's. Personally I won't be holding my breath, preferring rather to get airworthiness restored to UK Military Aircraft ASAP.
You rightly point out that when such vandalism is committed it takes far longer to fix than it does to destroy. It needs someone with the drive and far sightedness of a Trenchard to see to it that the fixing is as quick and effective as possible. As those supposedly already charged with achieving airworthiness do not have the knowledge or experience required he will have to look elsewhere to find those who do. This is a challenge that has to be met. It will cost money as tuc rightly says, it will cost pride, it will cost reputations, it will cost careers, but if it is not done it will cost still more lives.
We need to remember that this happened not because the Regulations were deficient. They were not. This happened not because those who implemented them were deficient. They were not. This happened because senior Air Rank Officers ordered it so and under the present arrangements could do so again, no matter what the MAA assures us to the contrary. Only by removing that organisation from the MOD can it be provided with the independence that is its sine qua non. The same goes for the MAAIB. The AAIB is not separate from the CAA because of some quirk of fate but because it must be independent of Regulator and Operator so that it can lay blame on either or both if necessary.
My own preference would be to have each military regulator and investigator sistered with its civilian counterpart, but the nuts and bolts of the how's are best left to those who have to make this happen. The why's should be blindingly clear, to avoid avoidable airworthiness related fatal accidents in future.