British planned maritime patrol and attack aircraft
Nimrod MRA4
Nimrod MRA4 during a test flight
Role
Maritime patrol aircraft
Type of aircraft
National origin
United Kingdom
Manufacturer
BAE Systems
First flight
26 August 2004[1]
Status
Cancelled
Number built
3 development plus 2 production[2]
Developed from
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2
The BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 was a planned maritime patrol and attack aircraft intended to replace the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2. The rebuilt aircraft would have extended the operating life of the Nimrod fleet by several decades and significantly improved the aircraft by installing more efficient Rolls-Royce BR700 turbofan jet engines to almost double the flight range. The conversion of the flight deck to a digital glass cockpit would have simplified control operations and reduced crew requirements. New detection systems were to be installed, as well as additional weapons for anti-submarine warfare.
However, the project was subject to significant delays due to cost overruns and contract re-negotiations. This was partly due to difficulties combining refurbished Nimrod MR2 fuselages, which had not been built to a common standard, with newly built wings. The numbers of aircraft to be procured fell from twenty-one to nine over a course of years, while costs continued to climb.
The MRA4 was ultimately cancelled in 2010 as a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), at which point it was £789 million over-budget and over nine years late. No direct replacement was under development at that stage, with the roles intended for the MRA4 filled by existing assets such as the Type 23 Frigate and the Merlin helicopter. However the UK announced its intention to order nine P-8 Poseidon ASW aircraft as part of the 2015 SDSR at a cost of £3 billion; these aircraft were delivered between October 2019 and January 2022 and operate from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
^"Nimrod MRA4 First Flight". Defence Procurement Agency. 20 September 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2005.
^"BAE jobs fears in Woodford after Nimrod axed". BBC News. 19 October 2010.
and 19 Related for: BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 information
rebuilt Nimrod MR2s, designated NimrodMRA4. Due to considerable delays, repeated cost overruns, and financial cutbacks, the development of the MRA4 was abandoned...
for the NimrodMRA4 wing. XZ287 - Stafford camp, Staffordshire, England - Fuselage only surviving part Data from Aeroflight – BAESystemsNimrod General...
Related development Hawker Siddeley Nimrod Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R1 British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3 BAESystemsNimrodMRA4 Aircraft of comparable role, configuration...
£750 million charges for problems with NimrodMRA4 (£500 million) and Astute-class submarine (£250 million) programmes. BAESystems has been investigated by the...
Siddeley Nimrod, a derivation of the De Havilland Comet airliner, begun to be introduced. During the 2000s, an improved model, the BAESystemsNimrodMRA4, was...
BAESystemsNimrodMRA4 programme in the 2010 SDSR. On 13 July 2017, it was announced that No. 120 Squadron and No. 201 Squadron, both former Nimrod MR2...
Nimrod replacements". Retrieved 28 July 2009. "BAeNimrodMRA4". Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2007. "Nimrod Aircraft"...
export customers. Warton was also used for development flying of the NimrodMRA4 Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack aircraft until the aircraft was cut...
littoral water. Searchwater 2000 MR: Intended for the cancelled BAESystemsNimrodMRA4; it has synthetic aperture radar and inverse synthetic aperture...
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.2 maritime patrol aircraft. It was intended that the MR2 would be replaced by the Nimrod MRA.4, but the MRA4 was cancelled in...
Shackleton UK 1949 retired 185 B class blimp USA 1917 retired 20 BAESystemsNimrodMRA4 UK 2004 cancelled 2010 9 Beechcraft King Air USA 1963 In service...
the Woodford-built BAENimrodMRA4 project was cancelled. It was previously believed that some jobs would be transferred to BAESystems' Military Air Solutions...
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick...
2002: Beginning of UAV development at BAESystems 2004: First flight of BAE HERTI 2004: First flight of NimrodMRA4 2005: First flight of Airbus A380 (wings...
CKEM could provide the warfighter.” On 29 September 2006, RAF BAESystemsNimrodMRA4 PA-2, ZJ518, arrived at Eglin Air Force Base after its first transatlantic...
questioned whether Ajax would ever enter service, calling it "the Army's NimrodMRA4" (an upgrade of which never entered service and was scrapped in 2010...
Global Information