Melchette, I'm not questioning your analysis or the fact that Wildcat would be pretty poor as a battlefield taxi but is a fleet of light C2 / ISTAR helicopters what the green army needs given the cuts elsewhere?
Apache's sensors are very effective and its defensive aids, mixed weapons load and protective armour make it well suited to escort roles (nice if it was quicker though) as well as its originally envisaged role. Watchkeeper is also adding to the Army's organic ISTAR capability and the oft heard word from the infantry types around me is that we are now drowning in information but with dwindling ability to move boots around to exploit it.
With 100+ escort capable Army helicopters kicking around compared to what may be left of SH when CHF Merlins are embarked elsewhere, the Army could be doing an awful lot of walking with a constant chatter from their colleagues above telling them about the latest opportunity they have just missed.
Given the unpalatable structure and numbers we will be left with I am no longer convinced that Wildcat's predicted niche still exists. Clearly I would rather fund and fix the wider issues than bin Wildcat if we can extract the correct level of resource from the Treasury.