Backwards, I think you have just identified the truly expeditionary nature of the Royal Air Force strike role in 2004. In which whole Groups could forward deploy en masse with all of the wonderjets to do the job.
I take no pride in pointing out the forward deployed nature of the 2011 air campaign against forces in Libya, as has been said before.
At least now we can take comfort that apart from the green air force, everything else loves a lot of tarmac, with all the facilities that go with it.