Keesje
If you truly have an mpa background, I can only conclude that when you left you went to live in a cave on a desert island somewhere and have not read a newspaper since. Are you aware how unstable many countries are?
Russian subs have gone? Really? Okay, if you like. Ask a grownup.
What about the Chinese? North Koreans? Iranians? Indian/Pakistanis? And so on. SSKs are very cheap, bang for buck, when compared to the cost of a capital warship they can sink or cripple. For very little dosh indeed (think those brilliant exported German Type 209s) you can effectively close large areas of ocean and particularly choke points like the Straits of Hormuz. Forget the situation now, what of 5 years from now? It's just been proven, quite brilliantly by the UK, that you can't build new mpa overnight. And be certain you cannot build the crews from scratch in any sensible time frame either.
What is your issue with mra4 carrying Brimstone, Paveway etc? You've lost me. That was the future, given the funding. With a nice long standoff and loiter capability it was an attractive proposition.
If you've been away 20 years, I think you have little idea of what the military, including mpa, have been doing lately. Well done on the Cold War, waiting for Soviet Hordes to trample through Germany and further. As relevant as any other history lesson I guess. But the Russians and many other nations are a very different threat these days.
I really don't think you know what you are talking about.