@Royalistflyer
The government basically. Ideally yes there would be a military aircraft and ship building strategy based on delivering x number of aircraft/ships every y years, rolling on a contract of 30 years or so. The problem is politicians like to fiddle. We've also got the European issue in aircraft where they want everything done on a European basis, meaning we have to dance to someone else's tune.
@andyy
A continuous stream doesn't have to mean buying more ships, though they'd probably be cheaper on this basis so we would probably end up with more.