And imagine the howls from the media (and not just the Daily Mail). Politicians would not gamble such a risky political strategy; they would be insane to not authorise a response.
Imagine the DM headline and photos 'RAF Top Guns play games* while Russian Bears stalk Britain'. '£100M Typhoon [picture of GR4] grounded because Whitehall Says No'.... followed by the readers' comments, mostly along the lines of 'Time we left the EUSSR and dumped the LIBLABCON traitors. Vote UKIP!' or 'DO we still have an Air Force? Time we got rid of it and gave the Navy ships. Vote UKIP!'. ad naseum
* Uckers, of course