The Self-Defence Suite Would be Out-of-date Though!
To be fair, if we had specified a self defence suite when the deal was done it would be out of date for today's threats - just like what has happened with both the Sentinel R1 and Nimrod MRA4.
The SDS on Nimrod and Sentinel was specified in the original contract and needless to say we need to spend a huge amount of cash bringing the SDS on those platforms to state when they can handle more modern missile threats.
As long as we specified in the FSTA contract that we CAN fit a SDS then we are OK. If not, then we will be up the creek without a paddle just like we are with the Boom refuelling requirement now that we have E-3, C-17 and Rivet Joint that use the Boom method.
Frustrated....