And just to return to Ravers ravings, no-one would be foolish enough to suggest tooled up MPAs flying down valleys at 200' or mixing it with Foxbats. The clue is in the word 'contested' as used by LJ.
A study of Ellamy shows how significant a part Canadian Auroras played and we all know Sentinel made it's mark. Neither at risk from Libyan fast air. Similarly, an orbit off the coast of Yugoslavia would have enabled weapons with endurance and virtually no risk to the platform.
Sadly, I can't see anything of the sort happening with the RAF. With our leadership being predominantly FJ, vision is totally lacking at the defend roles for FJ at all costs. Bet your life if we do regain an MPA Force, the new sqn bosses will come from the FJ world, because they are the ISR experts obviously!