"and as for Reaction Engines, who exactly should be pumping loads of cash in to it?"
Well, if the MoD hadn't abandoned Alan Bond over decades ago, Reaction Engines might already be ruling the skies. The MoD invested in RE, then discontinued funding, RR held the patents on the engines, so Bond had to reinvent things to skirt those. Had the MoD kept faith, HOTOL could have seen fruition, made some money, and funded the next generation of space planes. The MoD claimed there wasn't a use for HOTOL, but I'm sure there would have been crossover as a satellite launch vehicle, hypersonic bomber, and maybe grown into whatever role the X37B is performing.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
