That's not really so. The only other viable contender in the competition in the mid 90s was the Lockheed P7
What about the Atlantique II?
Was it not Dassault who, when they saw the BAE Systems bid, pulled out because they did not believe it was possible to supply a maritime patrol aircraft for that money. This turned out to be quite true.
I do wonder how many people, given subsequent events, now believe that it would have been better to have had a sizeable (compared to current numbers!) number of such aircraft in-service a number of years ago.
Not least because they might have survived the imminent cuts, and would surely have been better than nothing!!