Doe anyone think the RAF will ever regain very long range aircraft to carry out searches for people around the world?
No, and we never did "carry out searches for people around the world". We carried out SAR within our area of responsibility. If we deployed for SAR it was either to support a fast jet deployment or to cover the overseas flights of Her Majesty.
It has become fashionable to lament the passing of our MPA by ex kipper mates suggesting/implying that we would have got involved with every high profile SAR effort, all over the globe.
We never did this and we would not be doing it now even if we still had an MPA. If we got involved with some random search for some random yacht/ship/aircraft outwith our area it was because we happened to be carrying out ops in that neck of the woods already. Not because we were sent there to do it. As I've posted before, despite the
PR value, SAR is not a significant factor when it comes to deciding military priorities.
And for the homophobic ex Nimrod nav...long before the time we lost the fleet, continuous SAR cover was being compromised every which way. It was 2 hours standby, not one and it was being covered from home not the messes, usually by aircraft with more limitations than your social awareness. I think you'll find DC had f**k all to do with any of that.