Maybe a chance to pause and re-set?
Rumour looks like Puma will stay for the short term.
I too would like a Joint Force Merlin, as when Puma does go eventually (and it will - even in 2025) then we are only left with a fleet of wokkas which will result in any hardly cockpits in comparison to what we used to have.
But, and this is where I am a realist and I find it difficult that others do not see it, but we are so broke as a nation with in excess of 6 years before we even begin to start to talking NH-90s, AW-149s and any other non-core fleet originally identified by the first version of the RWS back in 2009.
So we get new buy CH-47, the Army gets new buy Wildcat and the RN gets our second hand Merlins....
Please please please can we stop the cancer of negative bitching that has taken back Jointery many many years. Crew rooms from all 3 Services are full of anger, hate, selfishness and a raft of other negative emotions and feelings.
I know that our senior leadership has not been been entirely blameless in cultivating this culture of protecting our cockpits at all costs, but we cannot go on like this and as I have said it is now evidient around the table and ops.
It is messy, and there is much change ahead forced upon us by a combination of politicians and greedy bankers, not all good and yes sadly some (maybe me) will find that we are without employment in the coming years or at best forced into a non-flying job as there are no longer enough cockpits.
But we are eating ourselves up from the inside, and now is not the time (at all levels) to be stomping around with any single Service agendas trying to save your slice of the pie.
There is a plan, we can draw it out for as long we want and then continue to fight when we do not like the answer or the direction, but the more we do this the more we destroy the years of Jointery, good will and most importantly of all the mutual trust that has been built up through many operations and different theatres.
Enough is enough, now lets just get on with it.