4Greens
You are right, of course, just as one needs sailors for Disaster Relief after hurricanes et al. Unfortunately, sailors appear in the defence costs every year whereas equipment only appears when it is being bought.
So, if you want Defence on the cheap but with shiny new ships/aircraft they are going to have very few expensive boys and girls to drive and maintain them. Any army is going to be small and backed up by part timers.
The fact that this is not really a Defence capability is fine by the politicians and seems to be fine by voters. It's the future, until someone wants to fight.
N