"Personally, I am with the delay/wait and see community, hopefully by about 2015 Defence will turn around to the RN, give them a pat on the head and say 'well done for trying', give them one Merlin squadron that is always at sea, ultimately under a light blue command structure (so kind of a Joint Force Merlin, but commanded by us)"
The addition of the green Merlin Sqdn's to the RN will happen, the depth facility is already RN run, the Merlin facilities down Culdrose are more than enough to support the entire fleet. The only question is whether they end up down Culdrose or Yeovilton. If i was a betting man i would say a good part of the decision to keep Puma was to appease the light blue boys when the Merlin does come to us.