ES:-
Can you imagine the fuss if it turned out an equivalent amount was being invested in life-extending drugs by the NHS?
False analogy. The equivalent fuss would be that millions had been cut from life extending drugs development, but that they had been signed off as fully developed and life extending anyway, and then prescribed by the NHS with resulting needless deaths and massive costs down the line.
What goes around comes around, and it is all around us at the present. As tuc says, unless and until the elephant in the room is acknowledged by the MAA and dealt with accordingly there are going to be more needless deaths, more added costs, and an ever greater debilitating effect on capability.
MRA? You ain't seen nothing yet, this nettle needs grasping by what remains of the Royal Air Force and well before it gets that telegram from HMQ!