BAE Systems

The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 71

ahead of the port wing leading edge.
It was equipped with a Boeing
Tactical Command System. Sensors
included the Thales Searchwater radar
and for advanced visual search the
Northrop Grumman Electro-optical
Search and Detection System was
installed in a retractable ball turret
behind the nosewheel. Possibly the
most significant equipment was the
Israeli Electronic Support Measures Suite
which provided a major Electronic

Intelligence capability. The new aircraft

was also fitted with a multi-function

Defensive Aids Sub-System which has

Chaff and Towed Radar Decoys amongst

its armoury.

Flightdeck crew was reduced from

four to two, as the new Airbus-type EFIS

flight management system did not

require either a flight engineer or

navigator. There were eight mission

crew; two tactical co-coordinators, two

acoustics operators, an Information

Manager and two dry operators; one for

radar, one for electronic support

measures and a crew member for

additional tasks. The MRA4 had three

fewer crew compared to the MR2.

Delays and budget overruns

The programme soon ran into problems

and in October 1999 BAE brought the

rebuilding of the fuselages back in-house

from their subcontractors, Cobham at

Bournemouth and transported them to

Woodford. This put the programme 23

months back, pushing the in-service

date from 2003 until at least 2005. BAE

was forced to pay the government £46m

in compensation. Delays continued and

in 1999 the RAF had already cut its

Nimrod MRA4 order from 21 to 18, citing

the reduced submarine threat and the

aircraft’s improved capability.

Though earlier marks of the Nimrod

had never achieved any export sales

despite stringent efforts, BAE sought to

offer the Nimrod MRA4 to the United

States Navy for their Multi-mission

Maritime Aircraft programme and had

examined the manufacture of new

Nimrod fuselages for a possible USN

order. Initially BAE was teamed up with

McDonnell Douglas but this ended with

its takeover by Boeing. Other firms

approached were convinced that either

Lockheed or Boeing would win the

contract – and Boeing did. As a result in

2002 BAE withdrew from the programme †

Nimrod from success to caNcellatioN

‡ Nimrod MRA4

PA2 ZJ518.

(BAE SYSTEMS North

West Heritage)

In 2006 the second Nimrod MRA4 prototype ZJ518
underwent extreme indoor heat trials at the McKinley
Climatic Laboratory at Eglin AFB, operating in
temperatures up to 44°C. (BAE SYSTEMS North West Heritage)