The fat lady may well be warming up her vocal chords but what a bargain for the Americans:
...The Harrier IIs, built between 1980 and 1995, "are still quite serviceable," he said. "The aircraft are not that far apart. We're taking advantage of all the money the Brits have spent on them. It's like we're buying a car with maybe 15,000 miles on it."
Operationally, Nordeen said, "these are very good platforms. They need upgrades, but on bombing missions they have the ability to incorporate the Litening II targeting pod [used by U.S. aircraft]. They're good platforms. And we've already got trained pilots."...
If this deal goes ahead, we will be meekly accepting a ten year capability gap (and the loss of associated expertise) by 'giving away' our only remaining carrier-borne FJ which we not only invented but is still regarded as a uniquely valuable platform by the US, Spain, Italy, India and even Thailand.
As they say, go figure.