If you scale down the EF purchase at this stage from 232 to abpout 168 airframes, how much do you have to pay in cancellation charges?
If the FAA really needs STOVL, why does the RAF? The Harrier concept of operations rested on the assumption that main bases in RAFG were going to come under sustained attack from WP air forces and that runways would be interdicted. Despite the advances made in rapid runway repair techniques in the 1980s, it was thought advantageous to have some "off-piste" capability. Surely in any likely scenario there are runways galore - and no airfield denial threat to speak of?
Sierra Leone I do not understand why we involved ourselves at all, but to send a carrier and all its hangers-on just to scare the sh1t out of a bunch of thugs seems to have been OTT and bloody expensive. A much slower aircraft with real legs and a decent weapons load perhaps with AAR based on Ascension would have done the job - if it were necessary. Come back the Buccs - upgraded, of course!