my guess for what its worth is that a UK Mil roundel will adorn an MPA aircraft before the end of 2016
Interesting, however I beg to differ (which we can all do quite happily as takes our fancy as its all guesswork).
I would say there is a better than even chance that it will never appear again. Why ? Because the economy and MOD budget in particular is not going to be 'flush' with cash for new projects for another decade or so. And after a decade of no risk materialising, nobody will have the appetite or justification for its resurrection, without running the risk of looking like a plonker.
On the off chance the idea does gain ground, I would say 2025 at the very earliest. Forget any money in this parliament, so thats 2014 gone before anyone would dare be caught trying to justify the OR, and whomever wins the election after that will either want to put more money into the soap dodgers, or on other public infrastructure projects, and thats 2018 before anyone has any money. And by then one would assume that with only Typhoon and F35 in service, RAF eyes will be on more fast toys than in patrolling the borders.
So give it until 2025 then for whatever the MOD is called then to get an existing platform and system changed sufficiently to make a three year projects into a seven year one and there you go. All done.
