Why did Drake kill the R8B? Is a replacement on the horizon?

Somebody Somewhere wrote:
Why did Drake kill the R8B? Is a replacement on the horizon?

Link . .

http://www.rldrake.com/tech/faqpage....o%20Pr oducts

Future products..!

http://www.icom.co.jp/world/products...800/index.html

He once told me that that Drake had no successor waiting in the wings.
I asked him whether the current absence of a successor meant that there
would never, ever be a successor, and he didn't seem to have an opinion
on this.