The Harriers had 10 years of fatigue/useful life left in them, most of the jets had been upgraded to GR9 Cap EA with only a handful left in the upgrade pipeline and we enjoyed execllent servicability - undoubtedly better than any current FJ. Sadly our FE@R was reduced to 10 from 18 when we lost IV(AC) on 31 Mar 10, but that didn't mean we started scrapping jets. There are currently 79 airframes awaiting disposal at Cottesmore and unless you all missed it, there was a 16-Ship flown on 15 Dec 11 as the last ever UK Harrier sortie that had 14 spare ac available, none of which needed to be used. Additionally, 23 jets were deployed to CQWI in Jul 10, so an 18 ac deployment iso Ellamy would not have been much of a problem. We also had 2 Sqns of pilots who were CVS qual'ed with only the most junior pilots unqual'ed (a CVS det in Nov 11 would have sorted this but it was cancelled after the SDSR announcement). However, sustaining more than 10 ac on the CVS for 6 months due to the funding of only 10 FE@R would have been more problematic.
Sadly, due to the incompetance of the current Government, the Harrier is gone (and Ark and MRA4!) after serving with distinction in the Falklands, Belize, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan and it was flown and maintained by a dedicated force of talented pilots and engineers. People should remember that. Now move on.