... it was canned because generations of leaders failed to invest in a Sea King replacement. Once Afghanistan kicked off, anything that wasn't core to that theatre was never going to get funding.
Undoubtedly.
And now having half the guys flying around in Chinooks and Puma2 and large numbers of folks on £80k thinking up stuff for them to do will probably cost more than the whole SAR fleet.
... ... Ah, just the sort of openness we have come to expect from HMCG when there is stuff they are uncomfortable about. ...
No kidding!