If the Nimrod is used as a comparison losses in fuel economy at low
speed / loiter are to be balanced by the reduced transit times and
economy of fuel usage in transit.

Of course the Nimrod has 4 engines and does indeed shut 2 down when
loitering in an area.



JD wrote:
I suspect it's a political decision together with a improvement in
antisubmarine technology (space detection for instance). For sure
political after the F-22 / KC-135 replacement program imbroglio. Strategic
maybe in the sense of more rapid deployment with reasonable fuel efficiency
(after all, it's a twin vs the P3's four engines), good patrol speed with
slight flap deployment. Load carrying ability should be superb, so arm it
to the friggin teeth and add more fuel, zip to the suspect area at jet
speeds and saturate with sonobouys, etc. Pretty cool bird in my opinion.

JD