The British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3 was a planned airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft intended as to provide airborne radar cover for the air defence of the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The project was designed to use the existing Nimrod airframe, in use with the RAF as a maritime patrol aircraft, combined with a brand new radar system and avionics package developed by Marconi Avionics.
| Attributes | Values |
|---|
| rdf:type
| |
| rdfs:label
| - British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3
|
| rdfs:comment
| - The British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3 was a planned airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft intended as to provide airborne radar cover for the air defence of the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The project was designed to use the existing Nimrod airframe, in use with the RAF as a maritime patrol aircraft, combined with a brand new radar system and avionics package developed by Marconi Avionics.
- In the 1970's and 80´s Great Britain needed a new aircraft for AEW- and AWACS- missions, due to the obsolescence of the Shackelton AEW Mk 2. Because of frustration resulting from prolonged delays to the introduction of a NATO E-3 force, the British Government decided in 1977 to convert eleven British Aerospace Nimrod aircraft with a totally new avionics system, with radar scanners located in aerodynamic housings attached to the nose and the tail, supplemented by passive receiver pods on the wingtips. The radar and forward antenna were tested in a converted De Havilland Comet during June 1977, with the first BAe Nimrod AEW Mk 3 development aircraft flying in July 1980.
|
| sameAs
| |
| dcterms:subject
| |
| dbkwik:military/pr...iPageUsesTemplate
| |
| max takeoff weight alt
| |
| Guns
| |
| length alt
| |
| span main
| |
| Produced
| |
| Status
| |
| thrust alt
| |
| height alt
| |
| Introduced
| |
| primary user
| |
| Type
| - Airborne early warning and control
|
| Align
| |
| length main
| |
| Width
| |
| area main
| |
| hardpoints
| |
| height main
| |
| span alt
| |
| Manufacturer
| |
| ceiling main
| |
| empty weight main
| |
| type of jet
| |
| Developed From
| |
| area alt
| |
| First Flight
| |
| engine (jet)
| |
| max speed alt
| |
| jet or prop?
| |
| empty weight alt
| |
| thrust main
| |
| number of jets
| |
| plane or copter?
| |
| ceiling alt
| |
| avionics
| - *GEC Marconi Argus-2000 Mission Systems Avionics system incorporating:
**Thorn EMI Skymaster F Band pulse doppler air search radar
**Loral ARI-18240/1 ESM system
**Cossor Jubilee Guardsman IFF interrogator-responder
**Ferranti FIN 1012 inertial navigation system
|
| max takeoff weight main
| |
| Source
| - Historians Ron Smith and Jacques Fontanel, discussing the procurement process.
|
| Retired
| |
| Quote
| - "...The choice of national procurement rather than the available US alternative, involved not only higher costs for Britain but also the lack of an adequate system in-service when needed... It appears that buying British was given a high priority than having a system available to meet the assessed Soviet threat"
|
| Crew
| |
| Number Built
| - 3(xsd:integer)
- 8(xsd:integer)
|
| ref
| - Aeroflight - BAE Systems Nimrod,
|
| abstract
| - In the 1970's and 80´s Great Britain needed a new aircraft for AEW- and AWACS- missions, due to the obsolescence of the Shackelton AEW Mk 2. Because of frustration resulting from prolonged delays to the introduction of a NATO E-3 force, the British Government decided in 1977 to convert eleven British Aerospace Nimrod aircraft with a totally new avionics system, with radar scanners located in aerodynamic housings attached to the nose and the tail, supplemented by passive receiver pods on the wingtips. The radar and forward antenna were tested in a converted De Havilland Comet during June 1977, with the first BAe Nimrod AEW Mk 3 development aircraft flying in July 1980. Unfortunately, shortly after the eleven aircraft were finished and testing had already begun, most of the aircraft were shown to have technical problems. Another problem was that the aircraft didn't meet the requirements during testing. This resulted in the Ministry of Defence reopening the entire AEW competition in September 1986, ordering seven Boeing E-3D Sentry AWACS aircraft to replace the cancelled Nimrod AEW3 in December 1986.
- The British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3 was a planned airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft intended as to provide airborne radar cover for the air defence of the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The project was designed to use the existing Nimrod airframe, in use with the RAF as a maritime patrol aircraft, combined with a brand new radar system and avionics package developed by Marconi Avionics. The Nimrod AEW project proved to be hugely complex and expensive for the British government, as a result of the difficulties of producing brand new radar and computer systems and integrating them successfully into the Nimrod airframe. Despite close to a decade's work, the project was eventually cancelled, with the RAF instead purchasing new build Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft to fulfil the AEW requirement.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)