Carrier Aviation = Cheapest

[Capt P U G Wash]

Remind me again how long it took Tornado aircraft to fly from Norfolk to Libya and how many missions were flown by each aircraft from that location.

What would happen if Italy said NO! No RAF aircraft to launch attacks on Libya!

Just under 4 hours from political decision to act. That would also have been the point at which a sea deployment would have been authorised; so, based on Ocean's response time that would be about 3 months!
The UK based Tornados flew a sortie each night flying into Italy on the third day when the targetting switched. They delivered more strikes than the pre-positioned TLAM sub which then had to leave to rearm, and were enforcing the NFZ after 72 hours - Typhoon did the same in 24 hours - not bad for an unresponsive act eh?

If Italy said no I guess we would have to ask another NATO nation. No NATO permissions, I guess that would be the end of the NATO operation then.