Interesting thread, but time for a reality check boys! THE SHAR IS GOING!!! You can talk about it as much as you like, but it won't change anything!! If you don't like it, then quit!! Yes, it may create a capability gap, lives may be at risk. But lives are at risk everywhere in the military due to lack of funds. No or inadequate defensive aids on our large aircraft, no decent national SAM assets, insufficient body armour for the troops in the latest gulf war, no medical services to speak of... It goes on and on.
While the discussion reference SHAR is of interest, you might as well revive the "We should never have scrapped the TSR2, cancelled the CVA-01,....." type discussions. The SHAR is going, and no politician is going to embarass himself by doing a U-turn on this issue!!