My sincere apologies for the delay, gentlemen (and ladies, if any have posted... well, it's sometimes hard to tell due to the anonymity online)... problems with some uni work, and a few kinks needed ironing out of the manuscript of
The High Cliff (Book One) so I've been a bit busy.
Concerning Lewis Page:
I've read his book out of the library and read his document 'Cost-Effective Defence', and after careful consideration I decided I disagreed with most of his viewpoints and opinions. He writes in an extremely persuasive manner and his style is extremely inviting to the average civilian reader, laying things out in a simple fashion that easily draws them in. So far as I can tell, it would seem that Page is simply trying to earn a living, and that at least some of the opinions he expresses are probably not what he genuinely feels, although his frustration with BAe is quite understandable. If he were to write (or has already written) anything on the subject of explosive ordnance disposal, I would be most inclined to accept it as authoritative as this was his primary area of expertise: beyond that... *shrugs*
Personally, I do believe that an independent RAF is a useful institution, whilst also maintaining that the Army Air Corps and Fleet Air Arm are also useful institutions, all three of which are well worth keeping. Each has its own specialisations, its own particular capabilities, and I feel that these justify the continued operation of these three branches. However, I do appreciate that this is an issue upon which there is considerable debate, and accept that there are others who feel differently on the subject.
Getting back on track...
Concerning the American next-generation AMRAAMs: do we need the design specifications? (I accept that maybe there's a good reason why we may wish to modify the missiles in the future, and if so, fair enough... it's just I don't know what it is at the moment.) If we were to offer to invest in developing and purchasing the next-generation AMRAAM, might the Americans then be more inclined to make the sale to us? (Sorry if that's not a particularly good idea, I'm just trying to come up with a solution and it's pretty hit and miss.)
Concerning the F-35B... MM, NaB and Oil Slick: it sounds as if purchasing a third CVF (unless the French pull out when theirs is almost complete, allowing us to snap it up, hopefully more cheaply than the pair we've currently got on order) would be very difficult and rather impractical. Could we get away with purchasing two or three
Wasp-class LHDs modified to serve as... well, I suppose they could be described as escort carriers?
As far as I'm aware, the big problem with us purchasing only two CVFs is that every so often, one will have to go into refit, leaving us with only one conventional carrier available for operations over as much as a year. (Or more, if something goes wrong.) But if we had two or three modified
Wasps on the strength, could they stand in temporarily, with the option of having a
Wasp or two to support the CVFs when both CVFs are on operations? Or would we be better off looking overseas for a third conventional carrier?
If the
Wasp-class escort carrier idea is worth looking into... well, do you know (or can you make informed guesses - well, you're certainly better informed than me

), even vaguely speaking, what that might add to the price of a normal
Wasp? (I mean, would it double it, treble it, barely affect it... just an approximation will do nicely.) And what sort of air group might they be able to support? Could we at least get most of a squadron of F-35Bs and a pair of EV-22s aboard? (I'm guessing that that's the minimum number of airframes needed to be able to avoid anything too untoward happening to our forces.)
I know it's not much, but if we still have one CVF fully loaded with aircraft available as well, or if we can send in three modified
Wasps, might we be able to get away with using these ships and their air groups as a substitute for a third conventional carrier?
(Hopefully we'd make sure to order three proper carriers when the time comes to replace the CVFs... assuming, of course, that we're not using craft that resemble the Starship
Enterprise by then, or had to go back to using coal-powered ships.

Although in the latter scenario, I suppose we could still have carriers operating balloons or zeppelins or something like that...)
Please let me know if this idea is complete and utter codswallop.
Following on from the escort carrier suggestion: if we were to purchase modified
Wasps, would we need to purchase some F-35Cs as well for use aboard the CVFs and from land bases? Or would we be better off just getting F-35Bs? And if we exclusively operated the F-35B model
and bought a couple of escort carriers, would we need to expand the present F-35B order?
Concerning BAe: what if someone were to take them over, change the way things worked there - sackings, hiring fresh blood, adopting a more competitive/businesslike attitude, that sort of thing? Could that improve things over there to a point where... well, where we don't get drastically shortchanged at every turn? (To put it extremely mildly.) I know, it probably won't happen for real, but it's fiction for a good reason...

(The book's meant to be a look at how we
should try to change if at all possible.)
THis might sound a bit daft, but here goes anyhow: given that the concept of
The Lion Awakens involves a vast defence budget increase, shake ups, that sort of thing, if there were enough funds to go around, would more Typhoons be useful? Could an extra couple of squadrons come in handy?
Many thanks, everyone,
Jay