Nimrod MRA4

UK set to seal Nimrod replacement deal
By Craig Hoyle

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Long-term activities with the RAF's three Nimrod R1s had appeared to be at risk following the MoD's surprise move in December to accelerate the retirement of its remaining Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol aircraft. Its last Kinloss-based MR2s will stop flying by 31 March, a year sooner than previously planned, and two years before the last of nine replacement MRA4s will be handed over.

The military source says operations with the R1 will be safeguarded until the new Rivet Joint assets become available, partially by using cost savings generated by the MR2 fleet retirement. "There will be no capability gap," the source adds.

UK brings forward Nimrod MR2 retirement
Item by australianaviation.com.au on December 22, 2009 12:21 pm

As part of a wide-ranging cost and structure review, UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has announced the RAF’s fleet of 11 Nimrod MR2 maritime reconnaissance aircraft will be retired by March 2010, two years earlier than planned.

The announcement comes despite the MR2’s replacement, the much delayed and substantially remanufactured and re-engined Nimrod MRA4, not expected to achieve operational capability until 2012, leaving a maritime reconnaissance and search and rescue (SAR) capability gap of at least two years. The MoD has said these capabilities will be covered by Royal Navy ships and Merlin helicopters, and RAF C-130 Hercules in the interim. The small fleet of Nimrod R1 electronic/signals intelligence (ELINT/SIGINT) aircraft will remain in service until replaced early next decade.

Secretary Ainsworth said the decision to bring forward the Nimrod retirement was purely a cost saving measure and had nothing to do with the findings of the Haddon-Cave report into the loss of a Nimrod and its 14 crew members due to a fuel leak over Afghanistan in 2006.

Nimrod MRA4 Declared 'Ready to Train'

The Nimrod MRA4 has made significant steps forward with the UK Ministry of Defence formally accepting the aircraft and declaring it ‘ready to train’.

This declaration follows the type acceptance of the MRA4 which allows the delivery of production aircraft and the start of aircrew training, and the handover of the first production aircraft, designated PA04, following a demanding series of acceptance tests.

The formal acceptance was made by Group Captain Jerry Kessell, UK MoD’s Head of Underwater Capability, at BAE Systems’ Woodford site on March 10.

Group Captain George Martin, the UK MoD’s Nimrod MRA4 Operations Manager said: “Today sees the end of the acceptance process for MRA4, namely type, production and last, but by no means least, that of capability. The acceptance journey over the last two weeks marks a key milestone in the delivery of the first MRA4 for service use. It is a great privilege to have been involved over the past few years in seeing all aspects of the programme being drawn together and indeed today to see my customer accept the aircraft from me”.

Steve Timms, BAE Systems Managing Director for Large Aircraft said: “It’s tremendous to have achieved this milestone, which means that the UK’s Royal Air Force aircrew can begin training, can further develop the capability of the MRA4 and fully evaluate how best to use the impressive range of systems this aircraft offers”.

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Oct 18/10: Britain’s new government releases its 2010 2010 Strategic Defense and Strategy Review [PDF]. The result is the end of the Nimrod MRA4 program entire:

”...not bring into service the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft programme. We will depend on other maritime assets to contribute to the tasks previously planned for them;”
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