/reeve.gif)
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 10/110.pdf ,Airbus Military is promoting its maritime strike-capable C295 for any future UK programme
and see the feature on this report at
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ys-376998/
It is an interesting read.
Including an assessment of a 2011 study which looked at possible options for reinstating the capability, which has lapsed since the March 2010 retirement of the RAF's previous Nimrod MR2s,
the document makes uncomfortable reading for the coalition government.
Challenging this view, the committee says:
"The MoD asserts that it has robust risk assessment and management procedures in place to spot any risk escalation in the maritime surveillance arena,
but we remain unconvinced it has the capacity to respond to any sudden escalation.
We believe the risk is likely to worsen in the medium term as further maritime surveillance capabilities are withdrawn or not yet filled. The UK's maritime flank is likely to be increasingly exposed:
this risk must be kept under close and continuous review."
Last year's study into aircraft options and the alternative use of systems, including unmanned air vehicles and satellites,
concluded that a manned type such as the Airbus Military C295 or Boeing 737-based P-8A
would provide the best method of reinstating a maritime surveillance capability.
However, with defence minister Philip Hammond having left any such acquisition outside his procurement plans for the next decade, and the matter likely to remain closed until the next SDSR process in 2015,
the committee accuses the MoD of sending mixed messages.
An initiative to retain aircrew skills - dubbed Project "Seedcorn" - \will place 33 UK personnel with maritime patrol units in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA in 2012,
and represents an in-year financial commitment worth £3.2 million.
The Seedcorn effort will continue through 2019 under current plans, but both the committee and industry have questioned its sustainability.
"Although the former Nimrod crews have been loaned to other nations to retain skills, after five years these assets will no longer be available,"
Airbus Military said in a written submission to the committee, also recommending that "an MPA capability is regenerated within this timescale."
Questioned about the challenge of fielding a new type, Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, the MoD's director, joint and air capability and transformation, says:
"If we are talking about replacing a platform as complex as the Nimrod, that would be quite a long time.
If you are looking at a maritime surveillance platform, arguably that is a less complex platform and it can be done relatively easily because they are, effectively, on-the-shelf purchasing."
Buying a high-end system such as the P-8A would be expensive, with the US Navy's latest order carrying a per-aircraft cost of about $170 million.
For the same price, roughly four less-capable MPA-roled C295s could be acquired.
Other options could include modifying the radar on the RAF's Raytheon Systems Sentinel R1 surveillance aircraft, or installing additional sensors on incoming assets such as the Airbus Military A400M and A330 Voyager tanker/transport.
Saab also recently began promoting a "Swordfish" maritime patrol development of its 2000 regional turboprop.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ys-376998/A recent close pass near British territorial waters by the Russian navy's aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov (above) highlighted the MPA gap,
and exposed a "woeful lack of significant conventional vessels based in Scotland", he says.
