RAF to get Poseidon's

[rickoshea52]

It's hardly the best kept secret but now it has been inked this is great news for the RAF and the defence interests of this island nation. With them being based at RAF Lossiemouth i am pleased that the area is going to get a well needed economic boost.


I see that fiscal sense has prevailed with the contract for new Apaches going to Boeing and not the over priced British option.

[flyjoe180]

Be interesting to see how the Poseidon works out for the RAF Rick. NZ is looking to replace it's P-3s in the coming years, the Poseidon is a candidate. Endurance/range is quite limited compared to the P-3 and NZ has a vast oceanic patrol area, probably the largest in the world.


The Apaches, are they replacements or supplementary airframes? I take it they will still be built and configured to the Apache Mk1 standard? From reading, the British Apache has (or had) a lot more capability than the basic AH-64D model.


Edit: Just found this http://forces.tv/63899218


Wow, a whopping 44 mil pounds per Apache in the original order, now 8.5 mil each for the E model equivalent, that is huge savings.

[rickoshea52]

Range is a limitation for P-8 but with AAR that can be extended to a degree, their primary role as I understand it is for top cover to the Trident submarines. The RAF have had crews embedded with the US on their Poseidons and with allied P-3 air forces on the Seedcorn project to maintain a core MPA crew capability. It's great news for Moray where Lossiemouth is located; Kinloss, the former Nimrod base, is in the same county and the local economy took a knock when Kinloss closed as an airbase.


I read that the UK pitch for the Apache was for a remanufactured airframe when Boeing were offering a much better airframe at a better price.