Should the Fleet Air Arm operate Britain's P-8 Poseidons?

Would transferring Britain's P-8 Poseidons to the Fleet Air Arm improve the force?

The existing fleet is too small for a transfer alone to help. The preferred solution is a larger joint Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force force, with competition encouraging senior attention and support.

The proposed remedy begins with buying more P-8s because changing service ownership would leave Britain with the same small force. A suggested fleet of roughly thirty-two aircraft would form four joint squadrons, with two led by the Fleet Air Arm and two by the Royal Air Force. Competition would extend to command of the whole group and to which service obtained the best performance and value from its aircraft. That visibility could encourage senior officers to support and fund the force. The concern is that P-8s primarily support naval operations while senior Royal Air Force leaders consider the capability secure and concentrate on other priorities. Replacing them with a Swedish aircraft would also discard infrastructure already established for the P-8. One larger fleet would provide a more useful common pool than two small fleets with separate support requirements.