UK to obtain nine P-8 maritime patrol aircraft

Flightglobal.com ^ | 11/23/2015 | GREG WALDRON

[sukhoi-30mki]

The UK is set to announce plans to obtain nine Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, as well as extend the service life of the Royal Air Force’s Eurofighter Typhoon fighters.

The P-8 acquisition and Typhoon life extenstion will be part of a £178 billion ($270 billion) investment that will be made in defence equipment and support over the next ten years, says a statement from the prime minister’s office.

Prime Minister David Cameron will outline the plans when he unveils the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in the House of Commons later today.

With the last of the RAF’s British Aerospace Nimrod MR2s having already been retired in March of 2010, the cancellation of the replacement Nimrod MRA4 indefinitely extended a so-called “capability gap” to what had long been considered an indispensable national skillset.

“These roles require an aircraft that can carry torpedoes, as well as being fitted with a broad range of sensors, including radar and sonobuoys, which are operated from the rear of the cabin by a team of specialists,” says the statement. “These aircraft will also provide maritime search and rescue and surveillance capabilities over land.”

The statement adds that the service life of the Typhoons will be extended 10 years to 2040. This will allow two additional squadrons, bringing total frontline squadron strength to seven, with 12 aircraft per squadron.

“We will also invest in their ground attack capability and fit them with a new Active Electronically Scanned Array radar to ensure they can continue to operate in hostile environments in the future,” says the statement.

[sukhoi-30mki]

[tcrlaf]

Last year’s incident with a Russian Sub surfacing within sight of the UK’s nuke sub base, deep in UK waters, and being able to do NOTHING about it, since they gave up their ASW capability, is finally seeing a result.

[ZOOKER]

... they gave up their ASW capability

Short-sighted to retire all their Nimrods without developing any sort of replacement. Airbus couldn't make one for them?

[Afterguard]

The Nimrods were worn out and had been poorly modified over the years. The in-flight refueling system, for example, had caused caused a couple of in-flight, in-cabin fires. The sensor systems were old, difficult to maintain, largely ineffective, and they just gave up on them. The Labor government (if I recall correctly) at the time decided that Maritime Patrol just wasn’t as important as social engineering so never addressed the requirement for replacement. This is a pretty good deal for Boeing.

[catman67]

Would be better if it actually had weapons!

[ZOOKER]

This is a pretty good deal for Boeing.

And embarrassing for the British and airbus, to rely on their competitor Boeing for their defense

[Afterguard]

Oh, it does. About the only thing it can’t carry is a gun.

[the scotsman]

Hardly. The UK govt had decided the Boeing is the best, end of. We could have manufactured our own, but that would cost much time and money.

[sukhoi-30mki]

There’s really no alternative to the P-8, unless you are looking at refurbished P-3s. Airbus’ current offering (the C-295) is a smaller, lower-capability aircraft.