keesje
Once more with feeling....
An MPA mission is divided into three parts....
The transit out
the on station (on task) period
The transit back
Notwithstanding the odd wacky sortie (thanks yellergait), you do AAR going out, or coming back, NOT during the on task period.
Further...if the transit is short (less than an hour) there will be neither a need for AAR, nor the opportunity to conduct one.
Thus, an ENDURING fundamental requirement of a MODERN Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft is the need to carry out a 4-6 hour on station period, equating to 10-12 hours airborne time...wait for it.... WITHOUT AAR.
If that rules out some of your low cost types, well that's just the way it is. It's nothing to do with us being old and stuck in the past...it's simply that we know the job, past, present and future.
These short range coastal type may well be great bits of kit, and who knows, maybe could fill a coastguard role for the UK.
But they are not LRMPA.
TOFO ZKJ2