@ Cats5
Military flying operations usually re-equip with a type at a time so that standardisation/conversion training can be carried out in a structured way.
I think Longer Ron was inferring that store enough to re-equip a unit at a time..........
Actually, since the precedent has been set with MOD buying Vigilants from the civil register to top up the declining or insufficient numbers of new purchased aircraft there would be nothing to stop them buying a mix of civil registered K21 and new builds to make up the numbers more quickly.........., a refurb of second hand aeroplanes would be cheaper - especially if it was done by people who knew what they were doing..............
If there was a real interest in doing it that way I think that there could be 3 or 4 VGS units re-equipped within 24 months............
My personal view now is that the longer term plan from those at the top (I use the term loosely) is to cease VGS Ops altogether - maybe replace it with a bit of 'lightweight' Civilian gliding on an 'ad -hoc' basis maybe through the RAFGSA (although they too, are a pale shadow of their former selves).
Arc