Well they had to get the cash to buy the Fixed Wings from somewhere ...
I suspect the Savings made with these closures, and the revenue still being
top sliced from Forces as part of the Fleet replacement / upgrade program will cover that !
Isn't / wasn't that sum arrived at from calculations of the expected life of the original Fleet ?
With fewer bases & aircraft to maintain and replace,
will these costs now be passed on to the Forces, so that they DO end up paying less for Air Support,
as originally advertised, rather than actually paying more in some cases for a less effective service ?
Nail