JAJ
I think the comments regarding CSAR make the assumption that Harrier would have operated from a carrier. In addition to being nearer and therefore more responsive, the carrier would be able to carry helicopters including Jungly Sea King, Merlin, and Apache.
Oddly, the current
Cougar deployment (nothing to do with Libya, honest, despite being brought forward by a couple of months) includes
a pair of SK4 from 845 NAS and a pair of Lynx AH7 from 847 NAS...
I can see us getting drawn into this more and more.
AB
So I wasn't the only one to think that the SDSR predicted a decade in which nothing would happen.
R16/FB11
The story goes that the SDSR review had recommended larger cuts to the Army, but someone called Dave had decided that large cuts to Army manpower whilst Afghan operations are taking place would be bad
PR and cost votes, so he demanded that the RN and RAF bear the brunt instead - despite of the SDSR process.
I do not believe that there was much critical thinking regarding these cuts.