Nimrod could, the P-8 has a bomb bay, so it can drop stuff - how big that stuff is, and how expensive to redesign and replace the existing gear dropped by Nimrod and C-130 is a matter for debate.
everything from Blackrock would suggest that something catastrophic and entirely fatal happened to R116, and that topcover could been overhead 10 seconds after the aircraft went into the water and the result would have been the same. that does not however mean that the IAC does not have a very serious problem in needing some 6 hours to find enough air and groundcrew to launch a single aircraft.