GrahamO
I fear sir that that is the problem within defence procurement, everyone knows a lot about the procurement process, but very little about the product being procured. At least that was my experience.
BEagle
The reason for lack of AAR of USN P3's was not that it couldn't be done, but that the cost of training all the pilots was the stumbling block. That was the reason given to AOC 18 Gp in 1987. (He often confided in me ---well we spoke on an ac once or twice during deployment). Remember, the USN had 100's of P3's to chose from and the P3 could go a bit further than the MR2, albeit somewhat slower.
The MRA4 had such long legs it was considered unnecessary to qualify the AAR facility until needed, to save money.