A possible expansion of the Nimrod MRA4's application as part of the UK's future network-enabled armed forces could be its receipt of capabilities now reserved for the Royal Air Force's Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft.
The service's three-strong R1 fleet is expected to leave service around 2012 and a study is under way to assess how continued radio and radar signal monitoring and combat support services can be delivered until at least 2025.
Dubbed Project Helix, this process was recently narrowed to a contest between US companies L-3 Communications and Lockheed Martin, with Northrop Grumman having been eliminated from an 18-month system definition phase which started in April. An eventual price tag of more than £400 million ($740 million) is anticipated for the Project Helix effort, with a demonstration and manufacturing phase to be carried out by one company to the value of an initial £200 million. Main Gate approval to proceed with the Helix upgrade is expected later this decade, according to the UK Defence Procurement Agency.
Raytheon recently completed a separate, £100 million mission system upgrade to the R1 fleet dubbed Project Extract.
The MRA4 is viewed as a natural host platform for some of the roles sought through Project Helix due to its commonality with the ageing R1 airframe. A decision on the suitability of the new Nimrod to conduct ELINT duties will be sought ahead of an October 2005 target for an MRA4 production go-ahead, says Air Cdre Stuart Butler, the UK's director equipment capability for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
The MRA4's potential as a weapons-carrier is another future capability being considered by the UK, says Butler. RAF officials have previously spoken of the long-endurance platform's possible carriage of MBDA's Storm Shadow standoff-range cruise missile, which they believe would provide the service with a global strike capability for a handful of bases worldwide.
BAE was earlier this year contracted to conduct a study into the possible integration of smart weapons on the MRA4's four underwing stanchions, plus the addition of a reconnaissance pod and additional communications equipment. The company hopes to receive approval to integrate a 1760 weapons databus and associated wing wiring into the MRA4 at the point of production to allow for a further expansion to its future weapons-carrying capabilities.
The armed concept has recently expanded to include the aircraft's possible carriage of Raytheon Systems' developmental Paveway IV precision-guided bomb to become a de facto "UK B-52" bomber, potentially using the MRA4's internal weapons bay. This development would revive a capability lacking in the RAF since 1984, when the service retired its last Avro Vulcan bombers after a final operational fling during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas conflict.
Source: Flight International
