P-3s are fixed-wing, land-based sub hunters (though I thought these were being retired and replaced with a newer model.)
S-3s are folding-wing, carrier-based ASW aircraft.
I understand that, but you have to realize that P-3s had better MAD booms and had the opportunity to “map” predetermined areas to plot out a map of anomalies under quiet times, very handy in comparing new data to old.
I’d think the A/C versions were counting on less sophisticated detection myself. Just a dumbass’s opinion - two cents and all that.