Nimrod B.5?

[AeroplaneDriver]

On B777's Airplane News thread I posted a bit about the article in the current (or at least recent in the UK) issue of Air Forces Monthly that mentions the Nimrod MRA.4's latent bomber capability with wiring installed for 4 external Storm Shadows and 16 internal JDAMs.  Well, my brain started wandering (as a whiffer's brain is prone to do) and I started thinking along these lines:

Not all of the Nimrod MR.2s are being converted to MRA.4 standard.  Why not convert the remaining MR.2 airframes to a B.5 standard?  Save tons of money by doing away with all the fancy electronics associated with the MRA.4 and just have a crew of 2 in Martin-Baker Mk16s with the main cabin either filled with fuel cells or even left empty, stick on some useful targeting stuff like a Litening turret, fill the bay with JDAMs, sling some more (8?) on the wings, and Bingo, at a much lower cost than the MRA.4 you have a damn useful bomber with the same capabilities as the B-52 on a smaller scale.  Such a platform with the zero-timed airframe and new engines could easily serve until 2050.

From what I can find there should be 8-10 MR.2s not converted to MRA.4.  Enough for a pretty handy bomber squadron.

Your thoughts, rebuttals, ridicule, or praise for my exemplary strategic thinking is solicited.

[Captain Canada]

Wicked idea, Nick ! And the boys deserve a heavy bomber force as well !

Bring on the Airfix Nimrod !



I've said it here before....but the classiest thing I've ever seen was a Nimrod that flew across the Atlantic to do a solitary flypast over their fallen bretheren the day after the one crashed into Lake Ontario at the CNE airshow. Wow......

[B777LR]

Hmmm, cruise missiles? How many tomahawks would it be able to carry?

[Howard of Effingham]

brillant idea!  

mind you, the RAF weapons tech's may or may not like the idea. better get them a
new set of power loading equipment   while yer at it.

trevor

[Geoff_B]

The Strike Role is part of the reason they carried on pushing with Nimrod rebuilds after BAE blew the budget. They are also have intellegence gather facilities, Command and Control for land based operations and i believe they may act as motherships to UCAV operations interms of contolling and guiding them as an alternative to ground control.

For the bomber variant they would most likely allow for internal Storm Shadow carriage within the Bombbay, but keep the crew at about and use some of the cabin for crew facilities as well as the ew/ecm gear at the rear. They already have a long endurance so its possible to carry a second crew or maybe just a couple of extra to allow rotation for rest periods.

Nick the interesting thing you mentioned that nobody spotted was the mention of JDAM's !!!!. The Nimrods are for RAF use only yet i don't recall JDAMS ever being mentioned for RAF usage, the latest bomb we have is the Paveway IV - interesting slip there if the source is correct.

G

[Archibald]

On B777's Airplane News thread I posted a bit about the article in the current (or at least recent in the UK) issue of Air Forces Monthly that mentions the Nimrod MRA.4's latent bomber capability with wiring installed for 4 external Storm Shadows and 16 internal JDAMs.  Well, my brain started wandering (as a whiffer's brain is prone to do) and I started thinking along these lines:

Not all of the Nimrod MR.2s are being converted to MRA.4 standard.  Why not convert the remaining MR.2 airframes to a B.5 standard?  Save tons of money by doing away with all the fancy electronics associated with the MRA.4 and just have a crew of 2 in Martin-Baker Mk16s with the main cabin either filled with fuel cells or even left empty, stick on some useful targeting stuff like a Litening turret, fill the bay with JDAMs, sling some more (8?) on the wings, and Bingo, at a much lower cost than the MRA.4 you have a damn useful bomber with the same capabilities as the B-52 on a smaller scale.  Such a platform with the zero-timed airframe and new engines could easily serve until 2050.

From what I can find there should be 8-10 MR.2s not converted to MRA.4.  Enough for a pretty handy bomber squadron.

Your thoughts, rebuttals, ridicule, or praise for my exemplary strategic thinking is solicited.

Your idea is brilliant, and very interesting.
I heard that P-3Cs of the australian navy could fired cruise missiles (not sure of that) and this was a way of replacing the
F-111s...

[B777LR]

Sure it isnt just harpoons? Latest version of the harpoon can hit sea and land targets B)  

[Howard of Effingham]

i would be wary of this story being right. does anyone know what AFM's accuracy is like?  

but it is a VERY good idea. looking forward AD to seeing you model this idea.

trevor

[B777LR]

i would be wary of this story being right. does anyone know what AFM's accuracy is like?  

Seems quite good to me, but sometimes a month old news, f.eks they just mentioned poland receiving first F-16s this month!

Theres an excellent 24 page supplement on the Mig-29 this month!

[AeroplaneDriver]

Nick the interesting thing you mentioned that nobody spotted was the mention of JDAM's !!!!. The Nimrods are for RAF use only yet i don't recall JDAMS ever being mentioned for RAF usage, the latest bomb we have is the Paveway IV - interesting slip there if the source is correct.

G

I wondered about that too Geoff.  Seems possible that someone mentioned 'the latest satellite-guided bombs' and someone else assumed JDAM instead of P-IV.

[anthonyp]

Your idea is brilliant, and very interesting.
I heard that P-3Cs of the australian navy could fired cruise missiles (not sure of that) and this was a way of replacing the
F-111s...

Actually, all P-3C's can fire AGM-84 Harpoon (and there's been some experimentation with SLAM's and SLAM-ER's) anti-ship missiles.  

The air-launched version of the Tomahawk was tested in the 70's and early 80's, but was canceled in 1984 with no variant ever reaching operational capabilities.

A Nimrod B.5 would definitely be something to build!  Storm Shadows, JDAM's, JASSM's, etc.  (on a personal note, I dislike the "J" being in every freaking US program nowadays...  makes for wholly unpronounceable acronyms-as-words, unlike "Amraam" which rolls off the tongue...).  Can you imagine a Nimrod all anti-armored out with Brimstones all over the place?  Operationally useful?  No.  Goofy as all get out to see?  You betcha!

[Hobbes]

I wondered about that too Geoff.  Seems possible that someone mentioned 'the latest satellite-guided bombs' and someone else assumed JDAM instead of P-IV.

except Paveways aren't satellite-guided...

[AeroplaneDriver]

I wondered about that too Geoff.  Seems possible that someone mentioned 'the latest satellite-guided bombs' and someone else assumed JDAM instead of P-IV.

except Paveways aren't satellite-guided...

I think the IV is GPS & laser.

[B777LR]

Nick the interesting thing you mentioned that nobody spotted was the mention of JDAM's !!!!. The Nimrods are for RAF use only yet i don't recall JDAMS ever being mentioned for RAF usage, the latest bomb we have is the Paveway IV - interesting slip there if the source is correct.

Following was mentioned in the article

The Nimrod MRA.4 has the largest bomb bay of any current in-service combat aircraft, giving it the capability to carry up to 16 500lb (227kg) JDAMs and/or up to four storm shadows exteranlly

[P1127]

I wondered about that too Geoff.  Seems possible that someone mentioned 'the latest satellite-guided bombs' and someone else assumed JDAM instead of P-IV.

except Paveways aren't satellite-guided...

Mk IVs are - they won the UK competition for a bomb with GPS, against JDAM

http://www.raytheon.co.uk/highlights/weapo...ackgrounder.pdf

I would imagine the use of PW in the Nimrod bombay would restrict the number carried - in the same way it did with Vulcan and externally on Tornado - due to the length of the bomb. hence JDAM would be a better option