The defence budget isn't a bottomless pot you know, and the budget normally has a 10 year plan - so if you spend it on one project you won't be able to spend it on something else
. Well I will give you part of that. It may not be spent at all and may be taken as a savings measure. The FACT is that we did not lose any FJ sqns because of MRA4. Each of the armed forces equipment programmes has a separate funding line. Each one is funded in its procurement, thereafter you are into support costs. If Defence decided it couldn't fund 2 types of FJ (well 3 or 4 if you include SHar and Jag) it was because it decided it couldn't afford the in service support costs. You might just as well blame the loss of this FJ sqns on the cost of 2 new carriers, or the PFI FSTA programme or the FRES programme. As I'm sure you know the in service costs and the EP were two separate entities albeit contained within the Defence Budget. We did not lose sqns of FJs because of MRA4; we lost them because we had an unsustainable EP where more and more in service capability was being sacrificed because of exquisite future tech.
