Melchett
To take your argument to its fullest extent would be akin to saying that the Infantry belong to Defence not the Army.
Errrr....last time I checked, we're
all part of Defence, irrespective of which colour uniform we wear. I think the RM and RAF Regt might have something to say about their role as infanteers as well!
Inter-service rivalries about who owns what are one of the root causes of the bad behaviour between senior elements of each Service, because they've lost sight of the fact that we're all supposed to be working towards the single aim of providing the military contribution to Defence. The colour of your cloth should be irrelevant in comparison to whether or not you can provide the capability asked of you in the land, air or maritime evironments. I agree that the seams between those environments are the most complex areas for the high-priced help to decide who is going to get the funding to do what, but in our cash-strapped circumstances there's not much scope for unneccessary duplication.
I also disagree with you that JHC isn't joint, it looks pretty joint to me! There are always going to be single service tensions, but show me a 'joint' organisation where there aren't! The tensions are more evident back at home, where people are polarised by separate basing, but on ops it's about as joint as any organisation I've ever seen and is routinely producing the goods for the customers day in, day out. Without realising it, most of JHC are probably among the most 'joint' of all of the Armed Forces, because working alongside each of the other two Services is second nature. I would argue that the only groups that are more joint are within certain specialist organisations, where the colour of your original uniform is almost irrelevant to your role and position within whichever of those organisations you're working.
Getting back to the original thread, Puma's upgrade might still be on the cards at the moment, but I'm not sure I'd hold my breath about any project requiring a financial commitment right now, because there's still a bit of a hole in the finances that has to be closed somehow. I think you're probably relatively safe if your project or equipment is part of the future structure of the Forces beyond 2025, but if you're not.....!