Unchecked,
The idea is to transfer the Mk3 and then bleat for the funding later. By that time it will be solely RN. There will then be an outcry that it cannot go to sea without more money being thrown at it, and hence the funding will appear. It would be cheaper in the long run to buy brand new airframes that will last longer, are already Marinised and convert the junglies to that airframe. This is simply an exercise in which Service takes the redundancies in a time of reduced budget.
One Service has simply been shafted at the expense of another.....before I get lots of puffer jet guff, please remember who lost cockpits there, and in the Tonka GR force too during SDSR.