fagin's goat is correct. In terms of value for money the Merlin cannot be considered a wise buy, but the money has been spent now and we won't get it back. After the tragic loss of two 0f 849's SK7s, would it not have been wiser to fit out two Merlin airframes with Searchwater 2000 and low and behold you have MASC several years early and under budget
Its going to happen anyway. IIRC the Italians already have an AEW Merlin