Rhajaramjet
The Typhoons at Lossie may be better placed at Lossie to deal with Terrorist controlled airliners crossing North Atlantic Track (NAT) routings that normally drop in anywhere from Shannon to Benbecula (depending on the jetstreams).
The capability from somewhere else referred to Type 23 Frigates, Astute Class SSNs and Sea King/Merlin ASW helos protecting our independant nuclear deterent - that was Nimrod's primary role. Long Range SAR was always at best a tertiary role to other things.
The escorting of Bears and Blackjacks in our airspace is not just a "Cold War" task. They do not carry IFF that civil ATC agencies can see and cannot be detected by TCAS - how safe would it be to let them "bumble about" undetected in our main trans-atlantic routing areas. Also they are out there for a reason. Either they are collecting SIGINT or supporting their subs that are looking for our subs - how stupid would we be if we did not watch what they are doing in the airspace that we have been assigned more than 12 miles from our coastline!!!
Sorry to bleat at you, but your comments deserve some feedback in my humble opinion.
LJ