options
Not sure if the £6 million a yearly cost of running the Reds or a one off payback but no doubt this has been thrashed out in earlier threads and money not the only issue.
Personally I have more time for the soldiers involved in ceremonials like the trooping of the colours, Guards and Royal Horse Art etc because they all can serve on the frontline and do some of the dirty jobs allocated to the British Army while the Reds are unable to occupy a joint role to the RAF.
Given the current and future manning and financial constraints on all services is it sensible or acceptable for the RAF to run a pure display team? Do any other services replicate this or are their display teams engaged in wider roles?
A future compromise might be for the Reds to retreat back to where they started many years ago attached to the AFTS at Valley where they can help to train what few pilots go through these days and fly a more limited programme of displays in the summer.
Not an argument that is likely to be settled and suspect the pros and cons will continue to be a source of debate for years to come.