Random,
Isn't the crew size in the comparison you use actually irrelevant?
If you buy the P-1, then the crew size is 11 for an MPA. Buy the P-8 and the crew size might appear to be 8, but if you use it as an MMA, with extra plug and play "stuff" as you refer to it, then you surely augment the crew past 8, towards what, 10, maybe even 11? Those augmenting people have to be on your P-8 Sqn from day 1, so what sort of manpower saving are you actually achieving in comparison to the P-1? Or are you saying one P-8 crew "borrows" people from another crew to act as the augmenters (would that be a nightmare to manage, especially on detachments/deployments)?
It should be about capability, not crew size.