novanav
As a UK taxpayer I regard this programme, and the reason it was necessary, as a xxxx-up. I refer you to MoD's own admission that it let a contract that delivered an aircraft that didn't meet its own regulations. That's a xxxx-up in anyone's book.
About Hammond's statement. The bit I quoted doesn't make sense. What is "commercial" about a military aircraft from the US and what is "off the shelf" about an aircraft that has to undergo years of conversion? It's spin and something stinks.