People who really ought to know keep suggesting to me that there are specific capabilities that will be 'gapped' as a result of the R1/RC-135 swap, but that there is at least one capability that will be reduced/lost as a result, the latter being one that's especially relevant at the moment.
Unless the assumption was that we would never go up against a 'formed state' adversary, with some kind of IADS, ever again, the R1 was always going to be missed.
And some of the most recent 'operational updates' from Afghanistanistanistan seem to have been blowing the R1's trumpet unusually loudly, while an American chum gave me a mild rebuke when I suggested that the R1's Comint capabilities were significantly behind those of the Rivet Joint.
It's nice to think that the old girl will go out riding high, with a bit of a bang rather than an embarrassed whimper.