Finnpog, exactly! My view is that the -B gives the most for the least now and offers the flexibility and basing availability that the -C wont offer unless we spend more. Could the -B do strip work? Yes. Will it, and will it need to? Perhaps not, but it still 'can'. I'm not harking back to RAFG and the autobahn deployments here. I'm saying that the capabilities of the STOVL give military commanders greater, not fewer, options in the future for the money we have. The -B might carry 65% of the fuel load of the -C but the range and loiter are not 65%. That gets lost in many of the comparisons made. The larger internal weapons bay is nice but not essential if your weapons are accurate, have range in themselves, and can be carried in higher quantities (6 or 8). So if you want a jet with 0.5g more and 170nm more range but it'll cost you an alleged £1.8bn more for the privilege, crack on. Something will have to give (like less bought) as well. Or carry on as if the hiccup change to -C never happened because -B still meets the original requirement.