As for new planes, a good bet might be a westernised JF-17 – lower unit cost than just about anything else on the market, and some commonality with existing kit (the engines are essentially the same as the Mig-29s). It is likely to be the best balance of cost/performance, and I doubt anyone would really object to buying westernised Chinese fighters in the circumstances.

Well, Romania and Bulgaria are obvious choices, but what about Poland? They have bought some F-16s, but still operate numbers of Su-22s and Mig-29s – Gripens could replace the Fitters straight away.

An alternative would be to use the aircraft as ‘sweeteners’, i.e. you pay for 10 new build Gripens, and get 10 of the A/B models thrown in for the upgrade price. This would mean that, hopefully, as well as disposing of 70 surplus aircraft, you sell 70 new ones!

I would not be surprised if the UK picked up a few – the ETPS has been sending people to fly Gripens for a few years, so buying a dozen might make sense. I would love to see the UK buying the whole batch, to serve as aggressors and ‘outpost’ fighters – fighters being positioned on the Falklands, and perhaps even the Baltic states (with funding from other NATO states?).

Phantom: the problem is that current UAV recon is flown by what amount to light aircraft, minus the pilot. The UAVs mostly fly at under 100 knots, which makes them completely unsuitable for replacing fast jet recce for most of those nations. UAVs are great for standoff recon, but there will be a role for fast jets for many years, though probably involving recon pods like the RecceLite or newer Litening models.

In future, targetting pods will be as capable of recon as dedicated recon pods, so there is a bright future for fast jet recon. With improvements in aircraft ECM, ELINT will be able to be conducted organically, with all the aircraft in theatre contributing to the overall signals picture.

Looks a lot like the EC175 they are developing with the PRC…

Is it me, or is the island too far back? It seems far too close to the stern, making any landing extremely dangerous – if it was further forward, it would make a lot more sense.

As for the cats, I would be tempted to try and fit two cats on the angled deck – allowing the angled deck to be kept clear for launches and take-offs. It also allows the bow to be used for parking, with a comfortable airwing of ~20 fighters, some lightweight AEW planes and a few helicopters.

The other reason for closing the North Sea ACMI range was the growth of ACMI pods, which meant that having a complex dedicated range was less necessary. ACMI pods allow for similar types of training, on an ad hoc basis, by simply flying out to some empty airspace.