Maritime patrol aircraft face competing demands across the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, and other shipping routes. Their sensors can observe surface activity and search below the sea, providing information about potential threats. In the peacetime situation considered here, they cannot simply use weapons to interfere with what they find. Ships or submarines must be available to act on that information. The distinction makes surveillance coverage and the capacity to intervene separate force requirements.
Notable Point · 1:49:51-1:50:36
Maritime surveillance needs ships able to intervene
Patrol aircraft can locate activity across shipping routes, but acting on their reports requires naval forces available nearby.