True enough a hole in the career oppotunities for AEOps has been blown but as has been stated already there are a number of us employed on various other types...
Now I think it would be a mistake to make redundant our entire ASW/ASUW experience with the flash of a very small cheque book so heres an idea...Why not choose carefully operators of a suitable age and experience, check for a cold nose, shiny coat and a good set of teeth, then farm them out to our commonwealth partners who are still in the game of MPA'ing? A nucleus of suitable NCA and some commissioned types who could spend a few years away keeping their skills honed so that some time down the way when some money is available and the mistake has been truly realised we could pull them back and have just enough experience to put a fleet back together...
If it never happens at least we had though about it and some of the unfortunate Nimrod mates up at ISK would have been fortunate to perhaps forge a new career elsewhere doing something they enjoy...and the commonwealth nation get some great SME's to learn from.