Discussion of use of £8Bn MOD under spend - FIRST OF ALL, NOTHING NEW HERE, ITS BEEN DONE, MOVE ON.
If you want to have the discussion (again), possible uses, as opposed to buying MPA, include:
More "people" as opposed to more hi-tech kit, as advocated by current CDS.
Other extra kit e.g. 9th C-17
Cost overruns on current projects - take your pick - carriers, F-35, Type 26, etc
Retention of UOR assets not funded when we pull out of Afghanistan
Retention of Sentinel (as favored I believe by current CAS).
The RN (assuming an MPA fleet isn't owned by the RN) and Army getting their hands on a share of the money.
Claw-back by the treasury.
As I have said before, if the RAF has some "spare" money, will it prefer to retain the in service, manned and experienced, known quantity of the Sentinel, or go back to the drawing board and start from scratch again with MPA? Thats an argument that was presumably already lost once in SDSR 2010, so how can it (assuming the RAF actually want to) be won now?
Initial costs of purchase of an MPA fleet of any real size are almost the easy money, the real cost long term will be in operating costs, manpower, simulators, industry support, etc. How much of your £8bn will that lot swallow over 4 years......