Boeing P-8 Poseidons on the way
Discussion
It will be announced later today as part of the Strategic Defence Review that the RAF will be receiving 9 new Boeing P-8s.
To be honest, it was obvious that this would eventually happen. At the 2012 Farnborough Air Show I had a long chat with the crew of the US Navy P-8 that was on display - all of whom were RAF.
To be honest, it was obvious that this would eventually happen. At the 2012 Farnborough Air Show I had a long chat with the crew of the US Navy P-8 that was on display - all of whom were RAF.
Can it not fly low?
According to the RAF chappies I spoke to, the airframe has been considerably beefed up compared to an airliner 737.
It is interesting that no matter what aircraft is chosen for a job, there will be always dozens of people who will claim it is the wrong aircraft.
As far as I can see, it's better than what we have at the moment - which is nothing.
According to the RAF chappies I spoke to, the airframe has been considerably beefed up compared to an airliner 737.
It is interesting that no matter what aircraft is chosen for a job, there will be always dozens of people who will claim it is the wrong aircraft.
As far as I can see, it's better than what we have at the moment - which is nothing.
Trevatanus said:
Eric Mc said:
At the 2012 Farnborough Air Show I had a long chat with the crew of the US Navy P-8 that was on display - all of whom were RAF.
You sure it wasn't 2014 Eric? I know it was there then, and the talk was that we were buying them.aeropilot said:
Getting enough people trained to crew them and maintain them is going to be interesting.......
Over the past few years, there has been a core of RAF personnel seconded to other forces that use the P-8 i.e the US Navy and the RAAF (Australia). So, that will provide the initial contingent.Shar2 said:
Not according to the USN who are finding it has a number of problems or compromises, caused by the airframe and its inability (or at least reduced performance) to operate in the same way as say a P3 or Nimrod might i.e. lots of turning, altitude changing and low level flight.
Of course, both the Orion and Nimrod are also based on older airliner designs. Maybe they just make airliners more weight efficient these days i.e. they are not over engineered.What existing airframe could they use as an alternative (ignoring the Japanese design which is probably not for export anyway) - given that they would have to start from scratch designing a brand new maritime patrol aeroplane.
But the project was in BIG trouble - mainly because the re-engineering required was proving to be massively more difficult and expensive than originally envisaged. They were having real trouble putting what had essentially been hand built aeroplanes back together again. No two airframes were the same.
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