Jimlad,
You say that 'We could have 300 aircraft constantly over the skies....'.
Not at the ranges the RAF are having to operate from, you couldn't. The best we can achieve by ourselves is a very limited time of 'CAS' over the target areas.
I'm not knocking the crews doing the missions - they are doing the best they can with what they have over the distances that they have to fly. But the brute fact is that IS are not being 'degraded' at anything like the rate the West hoped using tactical strike aircraft at long ranges. IS are losing people and kit, but to date their spread has hardly been checked, let alone reversed.
It's my view (and that's all it is) that IS have to be defeated on the ground. This will require a significant ground force, with very close 'close air support' - probably best provided by attack helicopters and artillery. And that will involve risks and losses. But this is a fight that secular Arab and Middle East nations have to win. If they don't, the West had better get it's collective mind around how to handle countries that oppose, despise and want to exterminate just about every cultural value and philosophy we've spent the last 500 years building.
Best Regards as ever to those carrying out the missions over a very hostile land,
Engines