camelspyyder: .....the other is based on an aircraft which has had notorious crashes following structural failures of the vertical tail.
Do you perhaps mean rudder control issues on the 737? Yes there were some very high profile rudder related crashes, and some structural issues with some very high cycle aircraft, but I am not aware of structural failures in the tail. Interested to hear more.
Bannock ..and doesn't need as much runway as a P8 at max AUW. Quite A crucial point when considering basing and FOBs
Crucial? Really? I think there are quite a few 737/P8 capable air fields, and surely not an issue for runways/hangars/aprons/bases that operated Nimrod....
Shorter field capable is nice yes, but perhaps not crucial in my view...