There was a time when the technology applied to a maritime patrol aircraft was relatively limited. These aircraft would be obtained by taking a convenient airframe, either a civilian airliner or perhaps a bomber whose performance had become outdated, and equipping it with a surface search radar set and a sonobuoy dispenser. Those days are long gone. Today, an airborne ASW platform is a very carefully designed and tested entity, the cost of whose sensor fit far outweighs the basic cost of the airframe.
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