WHAT AND WHERE
As an experienced LRMP pilot (four types with two Air Forces) my serious opinion is that two engines are not enough. Check the history of the Breguet Atlantique.
Now, whilst some of you might bring up the accident records of four-engined types, most of those were down to human error rather than mechanical failure, as well as being in the days before modern kit such as GPS, TCAS and EGPWS.
There will be plenty of cheap, low hours, second-hand, big donk Airbus 340s on the market soon. How about looking at modifying them for LRMP? Most of the ASW kit has already been formulated for the Nimrod MR4 and most of the work could be carried out in the UK.
'Nimrod' was one of Sir Ernest Shackleton's ships. Another was 'Endurance,' which is also the motto on the Squadron Standard of 120 Squadron, which was the top-scoring Anti-Submarine squadron in World War Two. How appropriate would it be to name the new LRMP aircraft 'Endurance,' and reform 120 Squadron to fly her.