OAP, I don't see any of your comments backed up by facts, just emotion. As I said previously, you need to look at the entirety of the Programme to gauge VFM and measure the performance against the contract metrics. Having been a Board member of one of the owning companies I can say that a huge amount of effort went into providing a solution to the RAF requirement and I am sure is ongoing to deliver it. This was not an ill thought out Programme designed to privatise anything or anyone. When the mil choose to operate the aircraft they do. The hiring of co-pilots, the issue that started this thread, was always planned and accepted by the RAF.