Engineer
supported a return to 3 front line squadrons of GR9 and as few squadrons of GR4 as could maintain the required assets to support a couple of contingent short term ops
When the Harrier Force had 3 Frontline Squadrons it was able to sustain Afghanistan and still take part in other exercises; for example deploying on Illustrious off the coast of Oman for 6 weeks or taking part in Neptune Warrior/Wycombe Warrior and Noble Award embarked over a period of 7 weeks.
If we had gone down the route as stated by FB11, surely that would have given us a much more flexible force