I don't think the Apache fleet reduction has "slipped under the radar". It has been known about for around two years.
I was involved in getting the last one flying again a few years ago
It's probably not news to you Vendee, as you appear to have the inside track on the UK's Apaches, but I'd suggest that for the rest of us (certainly myself) this mothballing wasn't announced ahead of time by the MoD, and there was certainly no announcement in January that it had taken place.
I've gone back to the SDSR 2010 document, to check the MoD's claim that this 'rationalisation' was set out then, and can find no reference whatsoever to an Apache reduction to 50 aircraft.