Boeing P-8 Poseidons on the way

[aeropilot]

Eric Mc said:

The Nimrod originally did not have air refueling capability - for the first dozen years or so of operations.

Yeah, but we had four squadrons of them, or rather 4 x times as many as we're getting P-8's.....

AAR fit was done for having to go down south in '82 IIRC.

[Eric Mc]

aeropilot said:

Yeah, but we had four squadrons of them, or rather 4 x times as many as we're getting P-8's.....

AAR fit was done for having to go down south in '82 IIRC.

We had lots more of everything in 1970. Times and the country have changed.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

aeropilot said:

Is RAF Voyager boom capable as well as probe n drogue...?

Unfortunately not.

aeropilot said:

Yeah, but we had four squadrons of them, or rather 4 x times as many as we're getting P-8's.....

We originally had 5 Nimrod Sqns: 42(TB) at St Mawgan, 120, 201 and 206 at Kinloss, and 203 on Malta.

The 203 Sqn jets had the lowest fatigue index and became the Nimrod AEW airframes.

[motomk]

Eric Mc said:

I'm sure I saw one on the news reports. Maybe I was hallucinating. It might have been a US Navy one.

Aeropilot is correct, Aussies don't have any yet. We still have P3s, but I guess they are due to be replaced by the P8.
The US Navy ones were used with MH370 and they have visited a lot to show the press what has been ordered, maybe what you saw.
The Indian Navy has a few as well.
Australia does have E7/E737 Wedgetails (AEW-C B737) and A330 tankers (KC-30A) with booms and hoses, not sure if the booms are fully operational yet??
They have ordered 2 more tankers but these will be converted from Qantas civil A330s.

[Eric Mc]

I probably saw the P-8 and assumed it was an Australian one. The memory is getting a bit hazy.

[ralphrj]

Eric Mc said:

I probably saw the P-8 and assumed it was an Australian one. The memory is getting a bit hazy.

According to wikipedia (yes, I know) 2 US Navy P-8 Poseidons were sent to Perth for 2 months as part of the search for MH-370.

[Dr Jekyll]

aeropilot said:

And.......

Will 'our' P-8's be redesigned for AAR, or are we buying them 'as is' in spec, in which case, not only will we have less a/c than we had Nimrod's, but unlike Nimrod, we won't be able to AAR them either, as the P-8 is not probe n drogue fit, but boom fit as per most USA a/c.
Is RAF Voyager boom capable as well as probe n drogue...?

Come to that, do the US Navy have any boom equipped tankers? I thought they were all probe and drogue.

[DuraAce]

Dr Jekyll said:

Come to that, do the US Navy have any boom equipped tankers? I thought they were all probe and drogue.

Pretty sure they don't. The USAF could probably rustle a few up though.

[Eric Mc]

ralphrj said:

Eric Mc said:

I probably saw the P-8 and assumed it was an Australian one. The memory is getting a bit hazy.

According to wikipedia (yes, I know) 2 US Navy P-8 Poseidons were sent to Perth for 2 months as part of the search for MH-370.

That must be it.

[motomk]

ralphrj said:

According to wikipedia (yes, I know) 2 US Navy P-8 Poseidons were sent to Perth for 2 months as part of the search for MH-370.

Correct, may have been 3 all up as I think one was swapped over early on, but definitely 2 most of the time.

[hidetheelephants]

What a stitch-up; value for money is not what we get from the MoD, just nods, winks and no doubt well stuffed brown envelopes and NEDs too. P8 might be the best option but without a competition no-one will ever know.

[Mojocvh]

Has a total program costing been announced yet?

[mgreenwood]

Prime Minister meeting an RAF crew and the P-8 today at Farnborough

[emicen]

PanzerCommander said:

Yertis said:

PanzerCommander said:

UK Government in short sighted blunder shocker.

By that you mean the decision to fart around refurbishing old Nimrods, rather than building completely new ones? I don't really blame the Government for canning Nimrod, it seems to have been an open-ended money-pit.

New aircraft were in build, millions had been spent on them and they were tossed out like an old coke can for the recyclers. A couple were well into their flight tests. Instead the defence review caused the program to end prematurely, in relation to the Nimrod the defence review caused the loss of:

• All the current in service (old) airframes.
• The airframes that were undergoing flight test.
• The airframes that were in build
• All the jigs
• All the tooling
• The site they were built on.

That is why it is such a blunder, not because they scrapped a bunch of old airframes that were due to get a re-furb rather than buying new.

Just to add to that,
- PA4 was [iirc] actually post hand over to the RAF but had been retained at Warton for further use in development flying
- PA5 had completed EGR ready for initial flight tests
- plans were being worked up to rapid convert PA3 to operational ready status

The only "strategy" involved in the defence review was that of showboating to the media and public.