RNLI 2012

[lenny100]

In 2006, the UK government announced controversial plans to effectively privatise provision of the Royal Airfoce search and rescue, in order to replace the 25 Westland Sea King HAR3 which have been in service since 1977.
This contract was won by Bond Offshore Helicopters who placed their fleet of 30 Euro copter EC225 Super Puma Mk II+ around the coast at civil airports near the coast, but these aircraft only have a range of 450 miles compared to the 650 miles range of the Seaking.
Another consequence of this policy was the withdrawing of the long-range support of the 21 Nimrod MRA4 aircraft that originally carried out three main roles of Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Unit Warfare (ASUW) and Search and Rescue (SAR).
These aircraft were instrumental in allowing the crews to monitor out to 4,000 km out into the Western Atlantic, but due to high operational needs such as anti pirate, patrols off Somalia and providing communications support in Afghanistan were putting a high demand on the limited recourses of the operational squadrons.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the British Isles, were given government funding for the first time in its history of  25 million per year after acquiring the system  to help cover this gap.
They were actively perusing a fleet of six Airbus A310, or Boeing 737-800 fitted with SAR equipment when an unrequested system definition was received from General Atomics for their RQ-1 Peregrine RVP-SAR
These "aircraft" are  remanufactured RQ-1 Predator, taken from the  early production models, that have been replaced in military service by the larger and more powerful MQ-9 Reaper, fitted as a ultra long-range SAR support aircraft. The RQ-1 Peregrine is a system, not just an aircraft. The fully operational system consists of four air vehicles (with sensors), a ground control station (GCS), a Predator primary satellite link communication suite, and 55 people. The aircraft are equipped with the AN/AAS-52 Multi-spectral Targeting System, a colour nose camera (generally used by the pilot for flight control), a variable aperture day-TV camera, and a variable aperture infrared camera (for low light/night) and a 7.5 million Candle Power Maxa Beam Searchlight for area illumination. They are also fitted with the ability to airdrop rescue equipment and those on station are fitted with two pods containing a 10-person raft w/ canopy, 4-day survival kit, 150 feet floating retrieval line, lighted float marker buoy, and a Category I EPIRB (emergency position-indicating radio beacon)

It was decided to lease for a six year initial contract 4 complete systems and a extra four airframes which would enable complete coverage of the sea around the UK with one aircraft in the air at all times in each sector and a second at 30 min notice at each of the sector stations

The four sector stations are at
.Campbeltown Airport - located at Machrihanish, 3 NM (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) west of Campbeltown, near the tip of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute on the west coast of Scotland
The airport was formerly known as RAF Machrihanish (after the village of Machrihanish) and hosted squadrons of the Royal Air Force and other NATO air forces as well as the United States Marine Corps until 1997, and at 3,049 metres, Runway 11/29 at Campbeltown Airport is the longest of any public airport in Scotland. It was built in World War II to permit heavily fuelled aircraft to take off on transatlantic flights. It is certified to accept the Space Shuttle should it need to make landfall in Europe, and provides for the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to get airborne again
This sector covers the sea area from the UK northwestern coast out into the north Atlantic and the UK -Iceland gap
This is also the service and repair centre for the fleet.

Tingwall Airport, also known as Lerwick/Tingwall Airport, is located in the Tingwall valley, near the village of Gott, 4 NM (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) northwest of Lerwick on the mainland island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, as well covering the northern area of the north sea it also covers the major part of the UK oil and gas production rigs.

Humberside Airport  is situated at Kirmington in the Borough of North Lincolnshire, England, 10 NM (19 km; 12 mi)[1] west of Grimsby and around 15 mi (24 km) from both Kingston upon Hull and Scunthorpe covers the southern north sea and the English channel to the isle of white.

Land's End Airport situated in St Just, five NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) west of Penzance, Cornwall, is the most southwesterly airport of mainland Britain

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Lenny, you know what I do for a living..... so I'll be watching this one VERY closely 

Ian

[lancer]

Damm interesting scenario. Looking forward to this one. Any vacancies for SARUAV drivers??

[lenny100]

done the first paint cover its not as easy as it looks the paint job is quite had to do for some reson to get it looking right.




this is only part of the story so it will be built as if in flight over a lifeboat (just wait till you see it all in 1/72 scale)

[lancer]

One question, and sorry to split hairs, but is this version of the Predator able to carry all that SAR gear? Or will it have an uprated and more powerful engine?

[Weaver]

Nice idea Lenny! 

BTW, there will only be TWELVE Nimrod MRA.4s.........

[lenny100]

One question, and sorry to split hairs, but is this version of the Predator able to carry all that SAR gear? Or will it have an uprated and more powerful engine?

the main sensor fit is the standard fit for a predator and with some of the purely military equipment remover such as the laser target designator, there is plenty of weight to play with and the drop pods are based on the following data



Description
The UNI-PAC II is a Multi-Mission Air-Drop kit packaged in a single semi-rigid, fully adjustable cylindrical canister. It is designed to contain supplies and/or equipment depending upon mission. The equipment may include a life raft configured to automatically deploy during delivery. Various aircraft applications include but are not limited to the P-3 Orion, C-130, C-123, CASA 212, S-3 Viking, C-7/C-V2 Caribou and C-47.

The UNI-PAC is a modular air-droppable survival system, which can be safely & accurately dropped to survivors at sea from the side door of an aircraft, providing versatile and cost effective SAR capability for most conventional aircraft.

Features:

Accurate - The parachute deceleration and stabilization design of the pack results in drop accuracy within 10 meters.
Safe - The UNI-PAC is a self-contained unit, eliminating the launch lanyard of multi-pack kits with connecting lines. Designed to drop at speeds of up to 200 KIAS, the UNI-PAC™ eliminates the need to lower flaps for delivery.
•Versatile - The UNI-PAC may be configured to carry a multi-person life raft & survival kit, medical supplies, communications equipment, weapons, or spare parts. The deployment system can be rigged for over-water, over-land, arctic, or jungle drops. Pack size can be configured in any type aircraft.
•Training Module - A major advantage of the UNI-PAC is the use of a cost-effective training module, which is re-usable for many drops.
•Widely Accepted - The UNI-PAC is currently in use by many military users around the world. Current users include Holland, Korea, Chile, Portugal, and Argentina.

Standard Dimensions:
Diameter Adjustable from 13" to 21"
Length  42"
Weight  100 lbs.

[Mossie]

The RNLI paint scheme looks great on the Predator Lenny.   Getting quite a fleet of SAR Predators now in the SIG!