replies on another forum about the MR4a :
We are not the worlds policemen,
we do not project influence.
We are also not here to save every Russian trawlerman in the Atlantic or polar regions.
Do the rest of the world pay us for such services, or have the ability to reciprocate in the middle of the indian ocean?
Unfortunately this applies to UK plc and not the Nimrod per se.
Project influence? We will if we get the CVS.
Saving Rusian trawlermen (actually it was usually Polish) will still fall to Britannia should we have a war canoe nearby. The difference is the Nimrod could have found the trawler first.
No the World does not pay us to drug hunt in the Caribbean (nice job if you get it) or pirate hunt in the Indian Ocean (also quite nice).
The get real applies to UK plc.
The Nimrod OTOH would have gone a long way to protect the deterrent which is allegedly vital to UK plc.
Who should get real?