The White Paper claimed that three quarters of a 16 percent, 400 million saving would come from better value and only one quarter from reduced capability. Its operational plan cut overseas tasks, kept more forces at home, and relied on reinforcement by air during emergencies. Surface-to-air missiles were already becoming an obvious threat, especially to large, slow transports. The economy of home basing therefore depended on aircraft reaching a contested area at the moment reinforcement was most urgent.
Notable Point · 12:17-14:21
Air reinforcement in the surface-to-air missile age
The plan to keep more troops at home and fly them into crises depended on large transport aircraft entering areas threatened by surface-to-air missiles.