Royal Air Force Boeing RC-135s : conversion begun...

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i= ... =EUR&s=AIR

Tanker Arrives for Conversion to Intel Role for RAF
By ANDREW CHUTER

Published: 17 Dec 2010 12:29

LONDON - The first of three Boeing KC-135 tankers scheduled to be converted to Rivet Joint signals intelligence-gathering aircraft for the Royal Air Force has arrived at prime contractor L3 Communications' U.S. factory.

This will kick off what British officials have termed an unparalleled cooperation agreement,
allowing RAF crews to co-man U.S. Air Force Rivet Joint RC-135W aircraft in combined operations until the new aircraft are delivered.

An agreement to include the British machines in a joint capability upgrade, support and maintenance program with their U.S. counterparts until at least 2025 was ground-breaking,

according to Ministry of Defence program leader Bill Chrispin, quoted in an in-house magazine.

The British are scheduled to withdraw the remaining two Nimrod R1's that have been providing signals intelligence in places like Afghanistan sometime next year,

leaving a three-year break until the first of the new U.S.-provided aircraft enters service in 2014.

The final aircraft will not be delivered until 2018, an RAF spokesman said.

Analysts reckon U.S. Rivet Joint's partly crewed by British personnel will be tasked to fill a key capability gap in Britain's defenses until the fleet of Boeing aircraft arrives.

The spokesman declined to comment on how the British will plug the hole in its intelligence-gathering capability.

Four RAF crews are due to start training at Offutt Air Base, Neb., next year.

Airborne mission operators, pilots, ground exploitation operators and support personnel will be involved.

The British program, known as Airseeker,

is expected to cost 700 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in procurement and a further 500 million pounds in support costs, including co-manning, up to 2025.

Although the Airseeker aircraft will be British-owned and -operated,

the aircraft will become part of a combined fleet of 20 U.K./U.S. machines and associated systems managed by a team based at L3's Greenville, Texas, factory.

Under terms of the deal, the British aircraft will be refurbished and the mission systems upgraded every four years, according to the Desider magazine.

[Stratofreighter]

...not only the aircraft are to be converted, but so are RAF crews...

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... on-in.html

DATE:20/12/10
SOURCE:Flight International

First RAF personnel to start Rivet Joint conversion in January
By Craig Hoyle

The first UK Royal Air Force personnel to transition from the British Aerospace Nimrod R1 onto the Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic intelligence aircraft will enter training in January 2011,

before going on to support US Air Force operations with the type from later in the year.

To be conducted at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, the training will be delivered to "airborne mission crew and flight deck personnel,
along with ground exploitation officers and support personnel," says the UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation's Desider publication.

"Up to four RAF crews will be trained at Offutt, who will then deploy alongside their USAF colleagues on combined operations worldwide from next summer," it adds.

© US Air Force

Three Rivet Joints will enter RAF service from 2014 under what the DE&S has described as

"the most complex combined Foreign Military Sales case and cooperative support arrangement that the UK has undertaken with the USAF since World War Two."

The acquisition, which survived the nation's recent Strategic Defence and Security Review process,
will involve three stored KC-135 tankers being converted to the RC-135W standard by L-3 Communications.

The DE&S says the UK's new assets - which will be dubbed Air Seekers - "will be supported, maintained and upgraded as part of a larger UK/US fleet of 20 aircraft".

The USAF currently operates 22 RC-135-series aircraft, as listed in Flightglobal's MiliCAS database.

"It is expected that the UK will take part in the programme until at least 2025,
although there are options to extend this period,"
the DE&S says, while noting that System upgrades will be implemented every four years.

© Crown Copyright

The UK currently has two Nimrod R1s in use, with these assigned to its 51 Sqn at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. The type (above) is scheduled to leave service by 31 March 2011.