An article in the Sunday Times at the weekend seemed to be heavily
hinting that some major cuts are imminent for the RAF. Does anybody
have any thoughts and they might or should be?

I think Tranche 3 of the Typhoon buy is safe for now. The political
ramifications, both domestic and foreign, would be a bit unpalatable
at the moment and would obivously not help the prospects of the
possible Greek and Singaporean export orders. Also, a Tranche 3
cancellation does not help the short term financial situation.

Nimrod MRA.4 would be a more likely candidate for the chop. We once
again are unable to work the alchemy of transmuting the base metal of
the 50s Comet airframe into the gold of a modern military aircraft.
Nimrod AEW.3 redux. I could see a situation where MRA.4 is chopped,
the current kipper fleet soldiers on until 2010-2012 and the RAF then
gets half a dozen of whatever wins the US DoD MMA requirement.

Having said all that, I am attempting to view British defence
procurement policy through the prism of logic, so my analysis is
probably fatally flawed!

--
Vsadnik