Just 'cos the Waddo mafia claim to be able to do all the Nimrod jobs between them does not actually make it true.
One of the most worrying aspects of all Defence Reviews is the increase in wildly inflated claims of capability whenever a platform feels threatened (and I include Nimrod in that). The BIG difference with Nimrod is that it proved, day in and night out, it could do the job. Everyone else just claims to be able to do it.
Whether or not MRA4 can do what MR2 did, only time will tell. But the initial indications are that, given the same level playing field everyone else seems to get, MRA4 will prove itself and then some.
And CAS definitely flew MRA4 earlier in the year, I watched him doing so from the jump seat 4 feet behind him. But whilst he was impressed with the flight deck, it was the integrated mission system and sensors that really got his attention (and gets everybody else's when they see it in the flesh).
At the end of the day the politicos will have the final say. If an Island nation chooses to abandon the protection of its SLOCs, abrogate its IMO SAR responsibilities, neglect its deterent's primary protection asset and genuinely does not want to continue with a platform that will form the central plank of CISTAR aspirations, then I would suggest that that country's political and military leadership really ought to decide what it is trying to achieve, who it is trying to protect and why.
If they do decide to bin MRA4, They won't have to worry about me, as I will have left to find a country of residence that still understands defence is not a cheap or optional requirement (not sure where that may be, but anywhere has to be better than watching the country and service you have spent 26 proud years serving disappearing up its own chuff).
