I can appreciate the point you make Crab. However, if the system can survive years of SK shaky rivets and single winches then perhaps things will continue to work fine.
As posted elsewhere in relation to the same point.
"The Bristow surge map shows how every part of the UK mainland is covered by between 4 and 7 helicopters (not including the spare at each base), except ... eh ... em ... the Ben Nevis area which is only covered by 3.
(Not expecting Sumburgh at Kintail any time soon.)
Let's not forget that the contractor is not tasking these aircraft. Also, that when availability all goes badly wrong, as happened during the Colwyn Bay incident in 2012, when Valley were off-line and Prestwick then broke a winch, a third base turned out to finish the job and it all ended well."
I suspect many will question the ARCC move to NMOC before the effectiveness of the 10-base solution. Surely it is at that 'big picture' level that such jobs turn from coal-dust to diamonds or vice versa.