the area I'm involved in doesn't have the required number of technicians to produce enough serviceable aircraft to meet the required tasking
Not a problem. With the persistent mismanagement of defence budgets by MoD and Parliament, we will soon have so few aircraft on strength that the manpower issue won't matter.
Between 2007 and 2017, the number of British combat aircraft came down on an essentially straight line projection from 475 to 250 (as at 1 January, MoD statistics, Conventional Armed Forces in Europe data). The vast and ever rising cost of F35 and the lack of planning for anything else ensures that unit costs will continue to rise, so numbers will continue to fall.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
