RAF Boeing RC-135W "Airseeker" Nimrod replacement, updates..

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... od-376813/

UK's first Airseeker on track for 2013 delivery, says MoD
London 04:27 21 Sep 2012

The Royal Air Force's first Boeing RC-135W Airseeker electronic intelligence aircraft is on track for delivery in December 2013,
with conversion work running on schedule, says the UK's Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation.

Updating the status of a programme to convert three ex-US Air Force KC-135 tankers to the service's Rivet Joint surveillance configuration, the Ministry of Defence's procurement and support body says:

"The glass cockpit that features in the RC-135 is well on its way to being embodied.
The aircraft will be rolling out for painting next January in preparation for an extensive ground and flight-test acceptance programme."

Conversion activities on the first aircraft were launched in January 2011 in Greenville, Texas, with the work being led by prime contractor L-3 Communications and supported by the USAF's Big Safari programme office.

"A number of aircraft skins have been replaced to deal with corrosion and prepare the aircraft for its service life as an RC-135," DE&S says in its monthly publication Desider.

Additional work has included removing the tanker's refuelling boom system,
installing an air-to-air refuelling receiver system above the cockpit,
and replacing every wire in the aircraft. Mission equipment racks have also been fitted in the rear cabin.

"Progress on the aircraft build is in on schedule, with delivery on track for December next year," DE&S says.

The RAF's future Airseeker fleet will assume the tasks previously conducted using its British Aerospace Nimrod R1s,
the last of which was retired from duty with its 51 Sqn in 2011.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... od-376813/

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ys-382114/

3 hours ago

"The first of these aircraft will be delivered in December 2013, followed by further deliveries in 2015 and 2017," Mark Francois, minister of state for defence personnel, welfare and veterans, said on 5 February.

"Airseeker is expected to enter service in October 2014."

[Stratofreighter]

See
http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/v ... 87&t=79526
/
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 5650_o.jpg

for a photo / image that was posted on RAF Waddingtons Facebook page...

EDIT: probably (yet again.... ) a Photo-Shop...

Look at the reflections of the engine-intake covers

[Richard from Rotterdam]

the titles on the fuselage look genuine to me.

[Robert]

Only the enginecovers are shopped. You can see ROY in the reflections on the ground......

[68-0037UH]

Coat of arms of the city of Lincoln near the cockpit is also missing in the reflection.... IMHO a fake

[nils]

i thinks its kinda strange that the RAF is replacing the Nimrod R.1 with an aircraft, who's design is, practicly the same age as its predecesser.
if they wanted to invest in a long-term sollution, why didnt they just integrate the same mods/systems onto a newer airframe, like the 767 or 737.

[Niek]

It's obviously much more time- and cost-efficient to take an of the shelf solution, rather than having to develop something completely new.

[Flyboy]

i thinks its kinda strange that the RAF is replacing the Nimrod R.1 with an aircraft, who's design is, practicly the same age as its predecesser.
if they wanted to invest in a long-term sollution, why didnt they just integrate the same mods/systems onto a newer airframe, like the 767 or 737.

At first this was my thought as well, however there is much more to this than the air frame itself. The cockpit gets updated and the engines are 'new'. In this way the aircraft is more or less identical to the E-3's in Britain's use which saves money in the maintenance and operational life.

More important however (and this has proven is Britain flaw in the past) there is hardly any need for an integration test. The interference of equipment onto each other is minimized by using an existing design (from system integration point of view) as opposed to Britain's previous way of doing: build it yourself. Most of the projects that went to lengthy and costly implementation were in the part of integration of the entire system. (look at the antenna array on top of the aircraft for example...)

Marc

[Robert]

Coat of arms of the city of Lincoln near the cockpit is also missing in the reflection.... IMHO a fake

If you look good you can see the coat of arms....

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Stratofreighter]

More pictures, which may (or may not) have been photoshopped:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 5123_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 4634_o.jpg

Taken from https://www.facebook.com/RAFWaddington as posted on Tuesday the 14th of May.