has it never occurred to the posters that the UK cannot afford a 'real' Royal Air Force any more
A few years ago my opinion was that avoiding the worst examples of waste, much of it entirely conscious, would generate more money than the MoD could reasonably spend. But the savagery of the cuts in recent years, coupled with (e.g.) the rundown of irreplaceable corporate knowledge, has changed my view a little, as the balance has shifted. That said, MoD still pours astronomical sums down the drain every day.
Last week we saw unseemly arguments in Parliament over the Budget, and the "need" to find £4.3Bn savings from the welfare pot. Coincidentally, more or less the sum wasted on Nimrod MRA4. An idea emerges....