I recall reading about the P3 AEW in 'The Australian' newspaper when I was still at school in the late 80s. It came off the back of a remark about AEW by then Defence Minister Kim Beazley following the Kangaroo 87 air defence exercise "... with it you win, without it you lose." This of course lead to a flurry of media activity about this new AEW thing, in particular the massive cost of the E3 and the massive unsuitability in the RAAF context of the E2. The P3 AEW was seen as a nice compromise of the cost of the E2 with the endurance approaching the E3.