No cuts just a change
I was going to stay out of this but ...
Someone asked a while back "What are we for cutting from the defence budget to get the MPA/MMA capability back?"
Then we all went into the usual gloom and doom mode "Oh no we cannay afford it - we're all Doomed I tell ye, Doomed!" etc.
Well as we all know it's people in uniform which costs the most. Buying the bloody aeroplanes is cheap by comparison the cost of running them. We will need people in established posts to run them. Establishing new posts will be an uphill struggle.
So look around ...
See if you can identify a squadrons worth of established posts in a unit whose aeroplane is not funded beyond 2018.
Got it?
Number Five (so-called Army Co-Operation) Squadron, the current Sentinel operators are ripe to be transformed into the new MMA Squadron. The number RAF posts will remain and I suspect the Army posts will be filled by Royal Navy personnel.
We could try to flog off the Sentinel Airframes and ground stations to some gullible customer, whom Raytheon could keep on supporting.
This will be politically acceptable as it will be no 'New' or increased personnel required. It will be seen as 'Old (single-role) aircraft out - new (multi-role) aircraft in'.
What we WILL get is of course a whole different topic. But hey - "Cheer up me old muckers." It's not as bad as some of you seem to think.