What poo.
It certainly wasn't the shooters who came up with this - rather probably the yahoos who want pure jets and of course those puppies have to stay high or fly in company with a tanker.
In the MAP role they can see more targets up high, sure, but then they have to RIG the contacts so, what - yo-yoing up and down? Pfffft.
For the ASW role I got news - subs no longer travel in packs. There's only one, or maybe two (although we never tracked a pair together). A sonobouy fence is only so long - and when it comes time to prosecute you need to be low enough to pull the trigger on the guy.
PLUS, you need to be able to drop *ahem* certain bouys at precise locations to refine the plot.
Sure, the crews won't mind getting on and off station at 737 speeds - but getting the job done will suffer, IMNSHO.
My hubby is an ex-sub hunter. They are the best! ;-)
Hubby just asked me to add that you don’t have the same engine control with a jet that you have with the Orion anyway. He said that he has intentionally flown with one engine at times in order to stay on station longer.
(Of course...that was some years ago.)