Yes, Wensleydale, I agree wholeheartedly. However, if we had an airliner go down mid Atlantic, I suspect that the NAEW FC would authorise an E-3 to be there pretty sharpish.
What E-3? FC refused to allow CinC Strike to keep an E-3 on permanent QRA standby in the early days of the aircraft, and without an aircraft and crew allocated then the ability of Waddington to get a serviceable E-3 and full crew airborne at short notice is very limited (unless the availability requirement is increased, in which case much more cash would need to be invested). In theory, the E-3D can carry out the task - in practise, it will need much more investment for other than opportunity tasking for an already airborne aircraft.