Magic Mushroom
Any real aviator would know that the wingtip mounted Yellowgate acts akin to winglets on the A340, etc... More efficient wings by reducing lift-induced drag through the reduction of the wing-tip vortices (I can't remember what ATPL module that was!!). Yes, the chin and canoe fairings will increase drag but not by 60 minutes alone. However, wingtip ESM vs scabbed on ESM would be about 60 minutes different on a jet with 10 hours of flying time.
Aerodynamic lecture over.
Why do you E-3D guys have such a downer on Yellowgate? It's a sh!t-load better than the RWR/RHWR/ESM gear on most other platforms and you had it before the E3A and E3B, so you could expect it to be a generation behind the AYR-1. Anyway, I would expect the E-3D update to get the next generation above it plus a seperate RWR/MAWS/DIRCM fit to boot - shouldn't that be the much vaunted Project EAGLE?
LJ