GBZ
I hope VVG brief but accurate explanation answers part of your question. As for speed it really only matters if you are operating a truly reactive scenario. In the case of most MPA ops the transit times just alters the take off and landing times it is the on/off task times that are important. Furthermore, the TP has a better endurance thereby reducing the number of aircraft required to maintain coverage. As for the dash speed it had such an impact on PLE to open the thrust levers on the MR2 that the jets full speed advantage was rarely used on task.
I did not mean to cause offense about the panel bashing but we can not compete against emerging markets on these basic engineering skills. Look at the commercial sector where a lot of the low end fabrication is done in the far east. Western industry can only have the advantage in high end, cutting edge technology such as the weapons, sensors and avionics that were required in the Nimrod replacement. With MRA4 this was mainly imported from Canadian and US companies. If the alternate P3/7 was chosen much of the high tech squiggly amps stuff would have been from UK companies.