PA,
Here's my chip.
The UK economy is improving, however:
BBC News - UK public finances improve in October as economy grows
The UK government is on course, despite budget cutbacks, to borrow £120Bn more than it earns next year. As a country we owe £1.207TRILLION, a figure that just keeps rising!! That represents 75% of GDP, where a figure nearer 40% of GDP is generally considered sustainable in the long term (as the economy improves, i.e. GDP increases, then the % of GDP owed figure will decrease, even though the TOTAL AMOUNT owed remains unchanged - but this effect won't produce significant decreases in the figure of 75%).
Overall, as a country, the UK is still broke. The USA may go on borrowing like there is no tomorrow, funding 11(?) odd carrier groups, but the current UK government is trying to reduce the debt burden.
All of which can be summed up as - THERE IS NO MORE MONEY. CAS is trying to keep Sentinel (already in place, crews trained, support system available), which has apparently proved its worth in recent conflicts, but which is not funded beyond 2015. Where is the money going to come from to buy a new aircraft, recruit/train crews, set up support contracts, infrastructure, expendables (e.g. sonobuoys) etc (all of which costs a lot more than just the price of the airframe!!
) without something else major going to fund it.
Which will have priority, keeping something we already have, which works, or reinvesting in something we have lost. And there probably isn't the money to do either!!