Why AEW and ASW aircraft are not easily interchangeable

How easy is it to redesign carrier AEW aircraft for ASW, or vice versa?

Helicopters are relatively adaptable, but fixed-wing AEW and ASW aircraft need substantially different airframes and operating profiles.

Helicopters can change mission equipment comparatively easily through modular fits, but fixed-wing AEW and ASW aircraft need different operating profiles. Aircraft families such as the S-2 Tracker and E-1 Tracer, or the C-2 Greyhound and E-2 Hawkeye, can share engines and avionics to simplify maintenance without becoming interchangeable. ASW work requires low or medium altitude for accurate sonobuoy placement and useful magnetic-anomaly detection. AEW aircraft instead cruise high and steadily to maximise radar coverage, so converting one role into the other involves much more than swapping sensors.