United Kingdom could procure Japan's Kawasaki P-1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft

Gestart door jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter), 07/01/2015 | 19:15 uur

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van:  www.thesundaytimes.co.uk Vandaag om 11:26
MoD sinks £2bn sub-hunter jet deal


Een hele slechte zaak!

Nu maar hopen dat de aanstaande Engelse Strategic Defence Review (SDR) wel ruimte biedt voor een alternatief, zeker gezien de exponentiële proliferatie van onderzeebotten en het groeiend aantal bezoeken van "gasten' in "ons" deel van de wereld.

Henk Kamp wederom "bedankt" bedankt voor het ruïneren van de NL capaciteit!

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)


StrataNL

Mark Hookham ‏@MarkHookham 58 min
CitaatMoD is understood to have dumped a £2bn plan to buy a fleet of P-8 sub-hunter jets from Boeing - see tomorrow's @thesundaytimes
-Strata-
Je Maintiendrai! Blog: Krijgsmacht Next-Generation

Harald

Lockheed Sees its SC-130J Sea Herc as The Affordable Solution to Answer UK Future MPA Needs

During DSEI 2015 which took place in London from 15-18 September, Lockheed Martin was showcasing a scale model of the SC-130J Sea Herc Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA). Keith Muir, Business Development Manager at Lockheed Martin UK, told Navy Recognition that "the SC-130J Sea Herc is a very cost effective and truly UK solution" to the future MPA need.



Lockheed Martin strongly believes it has the most cost effective solution as its plan is to convert up to 10 short fuselage C-130J Hercules. We were explained that these 10 Royal Air Force aircraft are to be taken out of service starting in 2016 as part of the latest SDSR (Uk's Strategic Defence and Security Review). Lockheed stresses that there is still plenty of flight hours left in these 10 transport aircraft.

Another factor that contributes to the SC-130J affordability is its commonality with the existing Royal Navy Merlin Mk2: Lockheed plans to use the same mission systems of the Merlin onboard the Sea Herc. While the Merlin has two operator consoles, the SC-130J would be fitted with 5 similar workstations in a palletized roll on roll off payload. This way the SC-130J would still have the ability to conduct transport missions.

Finally, Lockheed Martin insists the Sea Herc is a truly UK solution as 80% of the work to be conducted on the SC-130J would be done in the United Kingdom.

Lockheed Martin thinks the UK MPA requirement will include capability to conduct missions over sea as well as land. MPAs don't have to be limited to the maritime domain: For example, French Navy ATL2 MPA routinely deploy on missions above Iraq where their ISR sensors prove effective to support fighters on the ground and in the air alike. Lockheed says its C-130 range has already proven its ability to conduct combat missions thanks to the KC-130J Harvest Hawk variant, which is fitted with a weapon mission kit including AGM-114 Hellfires air to ground missions.

Specific equipment fitted on the SC-130J includes a belly mounted radar (we asked if the radar may be Thales new Searchmaster but we were told that no radar selection has been made yet and that Lockheed may integrate any type of radar chosen by the British MoD), EO/IR sensors and an optional MAD (magnetic anomaly detector) at the tail.

To deploy effectors, SC-130J is fitted with two conformal sponsons for 4 to 6 torpedoes and with underwing pylons for two anti-ship missiles or four air-to-ground missiles (per pylon). A carousel is fitted Inside the aircraft to drop sonobuyos. To facilitate the work of operators during ASW missions, Lockheed Martin has developed an acoustic sound proofing to reduce the sound level inside the aircraft.

Navy Recognition learned that a scale model of the Sea Herc was tested last year in a wind tunnel facility in the United States. Regarding performance, thanks to its long range fuel tanks, the SC-130J is expected to have a 13.7 hours endurance, meaning it can deploy 1000 miles from its base and remains on station for 6.5 hours before returning to base. This can be extended with air refueling.

Finally, Lockheed Martin believes another advantage of the Sea Herc over its turbo fan equipped competitors (namely the Boeing P-8 Poseidon and Japanese P-1) is the ability to operate from shorter or even austere runways.

http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3113


Zander


DSEI 2015: Finmeccanica pitches multimission C/MC-27J to the UK

Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

16 September 2015

Italian company Finmeccanica is pitching its C-27J Spartan and MC-27J Praetorian aircraft to the UK government as a British solution to a British set of requirements.

Speaking at the DSEI 2015 exhibition in London on 16 September, senior vice president of UK Corporate, Sir Brian Burridge, said that the twin-turboprop tactical airlifter and its special mission stablemate are largely built by UK industry and would offer the country the range of capability sets that it is either currently lacking or will shortly lose due to fleet retirements and other factors.

"The [C/MC-27J] is about solving problems that air forces around the world are facing today, particularly the UK. The UK problem is that its ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] platforms are very capable, but fragmented [into many different types] - there is the Sentinel, Rivet Joint, Shadow, and E-3D. [Further to this], it has a tactical intra-theatre transport aircraft with two refurbished BAe 146s, [and the] C-130Js that are to be retired [in 2022].

"The UK has packages of niche aircraft, which is not an efficient way to run a fleet. The [C/MC-27J] offers a flexible, affordable, and lethal solution ... with a UK industrial content of 37% [by value of the aircraft]," he said.

In terms of the roles that Finmeccanica envisions for the C/MC-27J in UK service, Burridge highlighted tactical transport and special forces, command and control (C2) and ISR, and maritime patrol.

Currently, the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) transport fleet covers the spectrum of strategic through to tactical, with the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, the Airbus Defence and Space (DS) A400M Atlas, the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules, the BAe 146, and the Boeing Chinook. However, with the C-130J to be retired in 2022 and the BAe 146 not intended as a long-term solution, Burridge noted a future capability gap between the semi-strategic A400M and the Chinook helicopter.
People are sheep

Sparkplug

DSEi: Airbus calls for UK maritime patrol competition

By Craig Hoyle, London | 15 September 2015

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is being urged to hold an open competition to fill any requirement for maritime patrol or multimission aircraft that may emerge from its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) later this year, rather than pursue a sole-source procurement with Boeing.

Speaking in the run-up to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London, Gary Soul, account lead for air ISTAR at Airbus Defence & Space, cautioned against the MoD acquiring the Boeing 737-based P-8 to close a capability gap created following the UK's last SDSR, in 2010.

Concerned about the potential for a non-competitive selection, Airbus made an unsolicited offer to the MoD in June 2014, based on the use of its C295 platform, which has already been adapted for a range of special mission tasks. The company proposes equipping the UK with 12 of the type, which Soul says would be sufficient to sustain three operational "task lines", plus training activities. The aircraft would be equipped with weapons and sonobuoys, which are already in the UK military inventory.

The C295's ability to perform multiple tasks is another element of the Airbus proposal, with Soul suggesting that other applications could include long-range search and rescue, exclusive economic zone protection, deploying paratroops and supporting counter-terrorism and special forces operations. The aircraft has a palletised mission system which, he notes, can be removed via a cargo ramp if required for duties such as flying humanitarian relief supplies, with extended-range missions supported by air-to-air refuelling.

Three different maritime search radars have already been integrated with the type for existing customers, and Soul says Airbus is now in discussion with a UK supplier which he believes would give it "a significant edge" in any future contest. Further details will be announced later this year.

Airbus claims that its C295 could be acquired for one-third of the cost of a P-8.

"With a small handful of shiny jets, you can't do everything," Soul says. "We believe we have a very capable set of mission systems that would give turbofan offerings a good run for their money. We need a competition to prove that."

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/dsei-airbus-calls-for-uk-maritime-patrol-competitio-416717/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

Lockheed Martin offers up Nimrod replacement

Defence giant Lockheed Martin reveals plan to 'recycle' RAF's ageing Hercules transporters as spyplanes

The fight to sell a new spyplane to Britain will step up this week with Lockheed Martin showcasing its plans on how to fill the hole left in the UK's military power when the Nimrod jets were scrapped.

The defence company is proposing to take C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft currently in service with the RAF but due for retirement and repurposing them with advanced sensors to take over the surveillance role.

US-based Lockheed has been working in earnest on the project for over a year and will reveal its proposals at the Defence and Security Equipment International show in London this week.

An upgraded Hercules is seen as the most serious contender to Boeing's P-8 Poseidon jet, currently the frontrunner in the contest to replace the new generation of Nimrods which were scrapped while under construction in 2010 as part of a military review. Ending the work saved the Government £2bn, though £3bn had already been sunk into the project.

While the Government has not officially said it will buy a Nimrod replacement, it is widely expected that the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) set to report in November will formally set the process in motion.

It is understood Ministry of Defence has a team of military staff and civilian arms purchasing specialists from its Defence Equipment & Support unit looking at specifications for a replacement spyplane.

The Government faced embarrassment earlier this year when it was forced to "borrow" patrol aircraft from America, Canada and France to investigate reports of a Russian submarine near the Royal Navy's nuclear submarine base at Faslane.

Surveillance aircraft like the Nimrod are seen as essential to protecting the Navy's fleet of nuclear submarines and the new generation of aircraft carriers currently under construction.

They also offer other surveillance capabilities which are used to monitor land warfare, the need for which has been increasingly highlighted by growing unrest in the Middle East. Part of this capability if provided by the RAF's Sentinel jets, but these are getting old and have been slated for retirement.

While Boeing's jet is built in the US, buying an upgraded version of Lockheed four-engine propellor-driven aircraft could be more politically acceptable as much of the work would be done in the UK, creating an estimated 1,000 jobs. The Hercules could also be used to insert special forces troops into the battlefield.

To replace the Nimrods on a like for like basis a fleet of 12 new aircraft would be needed. In the P-8's case this could cost about £2bn with support, though a similar-sized fleet of C-130s would be about half that.

Gareth Jennings, aviation desk head at analyst IHS Jane's, said: "The Hercules is a realistic replacement. The MoD has the knowledge of how to operate it and the US Coastguard uses a similar aircraft so the Hercules has the pedigree. However, the RAF seems wedded to the P-8 so it can easily operate with the same aircraft already being used by the US military."

Although seen as outsiders, Airbus is lobbying hard for its twin-engine C-295 propeller-driven patrol aircraft to be considered. This would be an even cheaper option and the company argues the MoD could buy enough aircraft to give military a real capability, rather than just a token political fix, though analysts say the C-295 lacks the range to protect the Navy operating far from shore.

Northrop Grumman is also fighting to get its Triton drone in the mix, along with Kawasaki's P1 and consortium L-3's proposal based on a regional airliner.

All these groups are calling for MoD to make any requirement for a new aircraft a full competition to give them a fighting chance.

Defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute called for an open competition rather than a "behind-the-curtains purchase of a preferred airframe".

Senior research fellow Professor John Louth, said: "Any announcement... should be for the reinstatement of a necessary capability and a commercial competition, not the announcement of the imminent arrival of a purchased aircraft."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We continue to assess future requirements and options ahead of a decision in the ongoing SDSR."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/11859872/Lockheed-Martin-offers-up-Nimrod-replacement.html

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: Harald op 11/09/2015 | 22:21 uur

(er lijken serieus plannen om de foute beslissing op de MPA toestellen weg te bezuinigingen, om te keren en de MPA weer terug te brengen)


De strategic defense and security review (SDSR)  wordt gepubliceerd in oktober en na verwachting maakt de MPA zijn herintreden voor de RAF.

Harald

LMUK fleshes out plan to close UK MPA gap with SC-130J Multi-Mission Aircraft
(er lijken serieus plannen om de foute beslissing op de MPA toestellen weg te bezuinigingen, om te keren en de MPA weer terug te brengen)

Lockheed Martin UK (LMUK) has given further details of its pitch to address the United Kingdom's maritime patrol capability gap - as well as other missions - using revitalised Royal Air Force (RAF) C-130J Hercules transport aircraft that would otherwise be heading out of service around 2022.

LMUK's proposal effectively leverages both its parent company's position as the original equipment manufacturer of the C-130J plus LMUK's experience as prime contractor in upgrading the Royal Navy's Merlin HM.1 multimission maritime helicopters to HM.2 standard under the Merlin Capability Sustainment Programme.

The plan is to "take aircraft in service that are tried and tested and marry that up with all the best technology available from the Merlin Mk 2, and then build on that with a range of different sensors", Keith Muir, the company's business development manager for airborne mission systems, told IHS Jane's in the run-up to this year's DSEI exhibition.

Muir explained that, in forming its concept, LMUK had "looked at the totality of the requirement, including ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] and special forces support", and in addressing that using existing assets and infrastructure had come up with a "low-risk solution that is extremely cost-effective".

The resulting platform, the 'SC-130J Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA)', would be able to conduct ISR missions over land as well as sea. Although the mission fit for the platform has been designed to be modular, allowing it to be reconfigured "from open cargo space to high-end system in a day", Muir said he believed the aircraft would "become so operationally in demand that [their high-end mission configuration] will become a semi-permanent fit, so probably only the back third [of the cargo area] would end up being tailorable". He said, "That could be done in a matter of hours."

Interestingly, the SC-130J MMA would go beyond the provision of maritime patrol to offer a full anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability. The concept allows for the dispensing of sonobuoys and includes a pair of conformal sponsons that could accommodate the full UK inventory of light- and medium-weight torpedoes. These would be located either side of the fuselage, ahead of the landing gear, and have even been modelled as reducing overall drag on the aircraft. Missiles - either anti-ship weapons or air-to-air missiles for self-defence - could also be carried on outer wing hardpoints.

LMUK is anticipating a full suite of sensors being carried on the aircraft, but has not specified any of them in advance of a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) requirement being defined by the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).

"We won't be prescriptive on that," said Muir. "The government is expected to announce the requirement post-SDSR and we will tailor our solution to match that." He noted that the MoD was "doing the work on that in ahead of an announcement expected in the November timeframe".

RAF C-130Js taken up to be converted into SC-130J MMAs would have their central wing boxes replaced by the UK's Marshall Aerospace, effectively putting them back to zero hours and allowing them to stay in service for another 20 to 25 years.

Other UK subcontractors would include Thales, Ultra Electronics, and Selex in a programme that LMUK says would be 80% UK-sourced, ITAR-free, and would sustain around 1,000 jobs in the UK supply chain.

http://www.janes.com/article/54155/lmuk-fleshes-out-plan-to-close-uk-mpa-gap-with-sc-130j-multi-mission-aircraft

andré herc

Ook de  P-8 is natuurlijk nog in de race voor een order uit de  VK
Fairford 2015 foto's 2 André Pouw
Den Haag stop met afbreken van NL Defensie, en investeer in een eigen C-17.

andré herc

Ook de  P-8 is natuurlijk nog in de race voor een order uit de  VK
Fairford 2015 foto's André Pouw
Den Haag stop met afbreken van NL Defensie, en investeer in een eigen C-17.

andré herc

Foto's van mij van de Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) FAIRFORD 2015
FOTO's André PouwP
Den Haag stop met afbreken van NL Defensie, en investeer in een eigen C-17.

andré herc

Foto's van mij van de Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) FAIRFORD 2015
FOTO's André Pouw
Den Haag stop met afbreken van NL Defensie, en investeer in een eigen C-17.

Harald

Japanese P-1s to visit RIAT, Djibouti in first overseas trip

Japan will send its Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) overseas for the first time later this month to conduct operational trials in Djibouti and take part in the UK's Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT).

Two Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) P-1s will leave Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture on 10 July and appear at RIAT at RAF Fairford from 17-19 July, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said on 7 July. A Japanese MoD official told IHS Jane's that one aircraft will be on static display and the other will fly at the airshow.

It is not the first time Japanese military aircraft have been to RIAT: KC-767 tanker transports visited in 2012 and 2014, although these were only part of the static display.

After RIAT the P-1s, which are from 51 Air Development Squadron, will head for Djibouti to allow testing and understanding of "the technical challenges when operating in tropical and desert areas", the MoD said.

Japan signed an agreement in 2010 to build a base near Ambouli International Airport in Djibouti that houses about 200 personnel and two Kawasaki-Lockheed P-3C Orion MPAs. Facilities include a barracks and a maintenance hangar for the JMSDF naval aviation personnel supporting the P-3C Orion in anti-piracy operations. The JMSDF plans to replace its fleet of about 80 P-3Cs with 65 P-1s.

The JMSDF received its first two P-1s in March 2013, after which they entered a two-year "operational test period" that included weapons testing before entering operational service.

The MoD initially set aside funds to buy P-1s at a rate or one or two a year, but in its most recent budget, for fiscal year 2015, the JMSDF received JPY350.4 billion to buy 20 P-1s in a bulk order intended to reduce unit costs.

http://www.janes.com/article/52803/japanese-p-1s-to-visit-riat-djibouti-in-first-overseas-trip

Harald

Japan's Totally Original Maritime Patrol Jet Is Hunting For Buyers

voor gehele artikel, foto's en video zie onderstaande LINK
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/japans-totally-original-maritime-patrol-jet-is-hunting-1716182328

In het artikel wordt ingegaan op de vergelijking tussen de P-1 en de P-8.

..../....

Today, a couple dozen P-1s have been ordered by or delivered to Japan and after teething problems, the aircraft is rumored to perform fantastically well at its job. Still, Japan's demand for the aircraft is limited to replacing their own P-3 fleet and seeing that the aircraft is a now an integrated weapon system that has its major bugs worked out, Japan wants to see if it can get some of the billions of dollars invested into the program back in the form of international sales. This is precisely why two P-1s will appear at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) this year, with one aircraft being shown as a static display and the other flying a routine during the air show and arms expo.

The UK's Royal Navy in particular is in great need of a maritime multi-role aircraft. Since the Nimrod MRA4 debacle of the last decade, the Ministry of Defence has no maritime patrol and sea control fixed-wing platform, which is pretty absurd for an island country. This is especially true seeing as Russia has drastically increased its submarine patrols all around the British Isles and even has sailed its ships into the English Channel.

Current candidates to fulfill this huge capability gap include America's P-8 Poseidon, its smaller cousin the Challenger business jet-based Boeing Maritime Surveillance Aircraft, a multi-role maritime patrol version of the C-130J known as the Sea Hercules and an Airbus C-295 configured for the maritime patrol role. Although other defense contractors will offer even more options, as of now this would put the P-1 somewhere between the P-8 and the Sea Hercules when it comes to cost and capability.

Currently, the P-1 is said to run about $140 million per copy fully outfitted (the P-8 is about $250M), but this figure could drop as efficiencies are found in producing higher numbers of aircraft at a time and as the aircraft matures. Additionally, Japan can be quite aggressive with its exports, and could even take a loss to realize a larger and more efficient total fleet size of P-1s and to get their first international customer for the type.

The UK is not the only customer out there that really needs to get into the maritime patrol game in a larger way than they currently are. Countries around the globe are finding huge capability gaps in this space. Asia especially, with its growing territorial tensions should see the multi-role maritime aircraft marketplace explode in the coming decade.

When you look at the P-1 and the P-8 closely you realize that the U.S. and their close ally Japan basically built similar aircraft for almost the identical mission. It is unfortunate that they could not work together on a common design. With a little foresight, who knows? We could be seeing P-1s with U.S. Navy titles on their wings today.

In the end the marketplace will tell if the P-1 offers enough extra capability at the right price to bring in the big defense bucks from abroad, but out of all the aircraft on the market in its mission-space, it is the only clean-sheet, totally purpose-built design. In this day and age of multi-role everything, where manufacturers constantly shoehorn disparate capabilities into a few common designs, that has to be worth something.