And of course the RN ending up with a frame they cannot do anything useful with will be the fault of the Crabs in Light Blue - no doubt we'll be sabotaging the airframe or something such pathetic.
No doubt this will feed Pheasant's 'follow a legal order' paranoid nonsense, but ask yourself why those in the RAF would want to train anyone that is ultimately going to put them out of a job?
My humble opinion is that the RN should be asking why the govt feels that their unique and vital capability doesn't deserve the best eqpt, why the new buy CH47 aren't going to them - the best cab for the job and the cheapest option all round. I think they pursue the Merlin agenda because a spot of crab bashing suits them best.