But it makes airborne tasking of an asset somewhat difficult when the tasking agency only uses HF. The MCA knew this and still procured aircraft without it.
Clearly, they thought that they were taking over and all that was needed was Zero. Then came April Fools Day 2010, direct ARCC tasking, and suddenly their spec was useless.
No HF is no issue in the days of SatCom.
One hundred years ago, resilient telecommunication was a battery, an oscillator and a bit of wire (antenna). This remains true today and will be true a hundred years from now. HF is only slightly removed from that basic format and that is why it remains a useful facility in spite of a few annoying idiosyncrasies.