My options would be slightly more affordable for the RAF;
Get the 330MRTT tanker thing moving, it is taking FAR too long and surely cannot be much more expensive than the current Tristar & VC10 museum pieces which are apparently very unreliable.
2/3 more C-17’s (this may be happening anyway)
Keep the A-400 Commitment
A few more Merlin BUT retire a lot of the other Helicopters in the near 500 RAF/army/RN machine fleet, as there are a lot of smaller and older types that probably are not as busy as they could be compared to those on Ops which is where the shortages are.
Review decision not to fit Radar to the Harriers due to continued delay on the CVF’s. I am sure they have the radars sitting in a shed somewhere from the Sea Harriers on a ‘just in case’ basis. Integration might be expensive though so a compromised solution might be required without full integration of weapons etc.
Do we really need a further upgrade of the Tornado’s at X billion, as is being considered when there is clearly a pressing demand for aircraft that we can use in theatre ? Money would be better spent elsewhere.
Go and ask uncle Sam if we can buy a few of the Many A-10A’s parked at AMARC (20-25 should do). We should have had this aircraft years ago. This wouldn’t be cheap as some upgrades and training obviously needed but we wouldn’t be talking billions either and there is a need for a machine with its capabilities. This will extend the life of the very few remaining and heavily used Harrier GR’s until the arrival of F-35. Some experts are saying the GR Harriers may run out of hours before it appears.
Half a dozen of the proposed weapons platform Nimrods that were being discussed about three years ago. Don’t fit any of the back seat expensive electronics (or the 8 extra crew) as in the MRA4, except DAS, a larger weapons bay and roll the aircraft as a long range stand off weapons delivery platform for Paveway and its derivatives, small smart munitinions, Stormshadow/Scalp etc. This would be cheaper than the MRA4’s and would add increased power projection ability. They do have the airframes for modernisation for this without digging them out of museums.
Finally a much longer range Storm shadow/Scalp which again would not be frighteningly expensive and to provide competition to the Tomahawk which has a lot of politics attached to its purchase.
All other commited expenditure to continue as planned. True there is a lot of classic British fudge in the above, but that is one thing we are actually quite good at.
That will do for starters. And then there is is navy and army to consider……………..:diablo:
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