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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 0673.PDF
FLIGHT International, 12 March (977 633 AEW Nimrod roll-out J. M. RAMSDEN in Manchester IN THE continuing absence of a col lective Nato commitment to a Boeing E-3A Awacs fleet, the United Kingdom "should now forgo further delay and look after its own." Urging this at the roll-out of the Nim rod AEW trials prototype at Hawker Siddeley Woodford last week, on the day scheduled two years ago, HSA's Sir Peter Fletcher added: "The UK commitment to Awacs is on the clear understanding that it is subject to a Nato commitment. Al though Awacs requires enhancement to give it overwater capability, the RAF has said that it will have either Nimrod or Awacs, but that it wants a quick decision. How much longer can the United Kingdom reasonably wait?" Nato has been "juggling figures" for too long, says Fletcher. Final deci sions were due in June 1976, again in December 1976, and now in a month's time—"and there is evidence that the next date might slip." The United Kingdom, he said, had been a country prepared to sacrifice its industrial capability to contribute to Awacs, and "now it is reasonable to take greater account of industrial factors." Awacs will provide work for no more than 500 people in the UK, according to HSA and Marconi-Elliott The prototype trials aircraft, a con version of Boscombe Down's Comet 4 XW626 (ex-BOAC G-APDS) is not an aerodynamic mock-up but is fully equipped with radar and Mission Sys tem Avionics (see Avionics, pages 636 and 639). Flight-tests begin in June. The first production Nimrod AEW could be ready for operation, given a reasonable rate of spending, by 1981 or 1982. The Royal Air Force requirement is for 11 aircraft. Accord ing to Marconi-Elliott Avionics, £16 million has been spent so far on the radar and AEW system, and Hawker Siddeley has so far spent £6 million. Asked to state the cost of the Nimrod AEW compared with Awacs, Fletcher declines to give figures but does not disagree with the Secretary of State's comparison with the UK's contribution for Awacs. This is reported to be not less than 14 per cent of that 27-aircraft programme's cost of about $2,500 million. Current spending, Fletcher says, is £1J2 million a month. The Nimrod AEW trials aeroplane, a modified Comet 4, is rolled out at Hawker Siddeley Woodford. The Nimrod MR, I visible inside the hangar is the fifth of the eight extra aircraft ordered into production in 1973 to preserve jobs at Woodford is:,-"'"*- mmsB fli -^^••nllli flftjr* * »*k :X:&: m Avionics. There will be no design work, and only a low level of skill. Buying Awacs will "kill off an indus trial capacity unique in Europe, built up over 30 years, depriving the British aircraft industry of part of its future foundation. You are not witnessing two companies defending their cher ished product. We are two experi enced defence contractors of long experience and we must reiterate that in the absence of a collective Nato decision the UK should go ahead." "Flight" About 7,000 British industry jobs will eventually be at stake, of which 1,000 are immediately at risk, if Awacs is bought. Lord Beswick, chair man-designate of British Aerospace, who was at Woodford, says: "I believe that AEW Nimrod represents a capa bility which Europe should maintain. We have honoured our commitment to our allies and we must now think of the British economy. Here is a case of employment without any extra cost to the economy." Nimrod AEW is a unique system, according to Peter Mariner of Mar coni-Elliott, designed from the outset to work over water. It has automatic initiation and tracking of targets down to small boats. The data system can be linked with ships, fighters, ground stations, tankers or other AEW aircraft, including Awacs—with which, according to Mariner, there is full "inter-operability". Auto-initiation and tracking relieves Nimrod's six operators of time-consuming work. "This is a major technology achieve ment. Nimrod will do the job better than the E-3A and at a much lower cost," he claims. "We have built up a team second to none in the world." Conversions John Scott-Wilson of Hawker Sid- dely Aviation says that Nimrod MR.Is (38 originally built) are to be con verted to MR.2s, and eight of 11 further aircraft (including three elec tronic-reconnaissance R.ls) have now been completed. The main changes from MR to AEW involve the rear- end structure, including a new aft fuselage and repositioned tail. The cooling system has four times the capacity of that in MR Nimrod, heat being transferred to fuel in the wing. The prototype does not have the rear radar antenna (the randome for which differs from the front unit only in aerodynamic shape; the antenna itself is identical). The Comet 4 tail was replaced by a Nimrod unit when the aircraft was at Boscombe Down. Scott-Wilson makes the point that two Nato AEW types would double the enemy's ECM problem. There are 700 Hawker Siddeley Aviation people at present working on the project, according to Scott-Wilson, which would build up to more than 2,000 in addition to 800-900 subcontractors. How is Marconi-Elliott confident of the radar's performance? According to Peter Mariner, "our Tornado ADV radar is fully compatible, and very extensive trials with a comparable Nimrod system have proved all our predictions very comfortably." How can Awacs meet the British requirement if its overwater ability is limited? According to Mariner: "It is the small-boat and low-velocity target detection capability which is of prime importance and the E-3A does not have this. We are not saying that E-3A cannot be enhanced but unless a boat is big enough and near enough, E-3A cannot detect it." If Awacs can do the land job, where there is more clutter, why can it not do the less cluttered overwater task? Mariner explains that an overland system which filters out targets mov ing at, say, less than lOOkt "has velocity inherent in the system and is not capable of detecting ships."
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