That's not really so. The only other viable contender in the competition in the mid 90s was the Lockheed P7 which was eventually rejected by the USN & the whole project cancelled.
The P7 had been binned well before SR(A)420 was circulated to industry for a Replacement Maritime Patrol Aircraft for the UK. Boeing were bidding the Orion 2000 which were new-build P3 ac with a Mission System very similar to what we have got in MRA4. Loral (bought out by Boeing shortly before the 'announcement') were bidding the Valkyrie which was based around refurbished P3s.
With the benefit of hindsight, I wish we'd gone for the Orion 2000 and steered well clear of "Waste-of-space".
