"there are a lot of MPA missions that can now be very well handled by quite small aircraft. The breakpoint is hardcore ASW - if you want to carry sonobuoys, torpedoes and a radar that can detect periscopes, that's more demanding."
LowObservable, makes sense. Every nation having their own credible ASW capability for that diminishing task would be very expensive. Maybe a task to centralize like Nato AWACS on two or three practicle locations.