I think on a thread like this, which repeats aspects of other threads, there is nothing wrong with establishing the basic facts. So, just to be clear, MRA4 was cancelled because, as predicted and advised many yonks ago and at every opportunity since, there was no valid safety case reflecting a maintained build standard and so, by definition, no valid RTS could be signed. The most obvious examples of the same failure are ZD576, XV230, XV179, ZG710..........., in which invalid RTSs were signed. Even MoD agrees with this, not least because they accepted this very criticism from Lord Philip and Haddon-Cave, both of whom simply repeated the above warnings from the 90s.
As discussed above, scrutineers of any aspiration for an R2MPA will want reassurance this organisational failure will, as far as humanly possible, not be repeated. This will not come from the MAA. I wish the Staff Officer with the task all the best, not least because he probably doesn't realise, yet, the sheer number of VSOs, serving and retired, who are lined up against him.
Let us hope Scotland votes No and SDSR15 can proceed, with a properly staffed and robust MPA (or MMA) requirement.