SSSETOWTF,
I get that, I really do. But getting best value for UK plc and the best kit for the job are often too much at odds with each other.
As noted here and on other forums, we still have a fair-sized defence budget. If could be bigger but that's another debate; what we have become very good at is going needlessly and expensively bespoke, or else being unable to plan for anything beyond tomorrow morning's headlines. That's something we can truly claim to lead the world in, unfortunately.
Getting the second or third choice of kit just because it serves constituency purposes must seem like a pretty sick joke to those who actually get shot at.
Forgive me if that seems uncompromising or naive. For me, all of this raises a much bigger issue to do with UK manufacturing policy: an overreliance on the defence sector.