British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3

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Nimrod AEW3

Nimrod AEW3

Role Airborne early warning and control

Manufacturer British Aerospace

First flight 16 July 1980[1]

Introduction 1984

Retired 1986

Status Development cancelled

Primary user Royal Air Force

Produced 11
 Number built 3 prototype

8 production

(all converted from MR1)

Developed from Hawker Siddeley Nimrod

The British Aerospace Nimrod AEW3 was a proposed airborne early warning (AEW)

aircraft which was 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 new radar system and avionics package developed by Marconi Avionics.
The Nimrod AEW project proved to be hugely complex and expensive as a result of the
difficulties of producing new radar and computer systems and integrating them
successfully into the Nimrod airframe. The project was eventually cancelled, with the
RAF instead purchasing new build Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft to fulfil the AEW
requirement.[2]

Contents

 1Development
o 1.1Background
o 1.2Development issues
 1.2.1Aircraft
 1.2.2Avionics
o 1.3Cancellation
o 1.4Potential future use
 2Operators
 3Aircraft on display
 4Specifications (Nimrod AEW3)
 5See also
 6References
o 6.1Notes
o 6.2Bibliography

Development[edit]
As an interim measure during the development of the Nimrod AEW, surplus Shackletons were fitted with
equipment from ex-Royal Navy Gannets.

Background[edit]
In the mid 1960s, following the development of the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye carrier-
borne AEW aircraft and its associated systems, the British government began looking
for a radar system that could provide airborne early warning for the United Kingdom. At
the time, the only recognised AEW aircraft in British service was the Fairey
Gannet aircraft used by the Fleet Air Arm on board Royal Navy aircraft carriers. These
were fitted with the AN/APS-20 Radar, which had been developed during World War II
and was rapidly becoming obsolete.[3] Work had been started in the early 1960s on a
brand new AEW platform for the Royal Navy to replace the Gannet that would
encompass both a new type of radar system mounted on a new aircraft, the P.139.
While the defence cuts of the mid-1960s led to the cancellation of the P.139, work
continued on a British designed radar system. Meanwhile, it was decided that the RAF
needed an AEW aircraft to operate as part of the national air defence strategy. [4]
To fulfill the planned requirements for a new AEW aircraft, the government had a
number of factors to consider:

 The Frequency Modulated Interrupted Continuous

Wave (FMICW) radar initially proposed for the P.139
and intended for the RAF's new aircraft would not
operate effectively near propellors, meaning a jet
aircraft would be needed.
 The size of antennas needed for the required
scanning range, together with the fairly large mission
crew, meant that a large aircraft was required.
Designers at Hawker Siddeley Aviation came up with a proposal that would see the
FMICW radar system installed using a Fore Aft Scanner System in the
new Nimrod aircraft. This proposal was rejected as being too expensive, with instead a
proposal to convert surplus Andover transport aircraft. This was also rejected due to the
potential cost of development.[4]
In the interim, to provide a land based AEW aircraft, radar systems from withdrawn
Royal Navy Gannets were installed in similarly surplus Avro Shackleton maritime patrol
aircraft and entered service from 1972. [5] Around the same time, it was decided not to
proceed with FMICW technology as the basis of an AEW system, as research from
the United States Air Force (USAF) had shown that pulse-Doppler radar was superior
and would be used in the Boeing E-3 Sentry then under development. As a
consequence, the idea of a new land-based AEW aircraft for the RAF was re-examined,
and again it was decided that the Nimrod met the requirements. [4]
Manufacturer's model of Nimrod AEW

The decision was taken to procure the aircraft fitted with a pulse-Doppler radar system,
which then proceeded to a range of options: [1]

1. Purchase the AN/APS-125 pulse-Doppler radar

system and its associated avionics, as fitted to
the E-2 Hawkeye, and fit them into the Nimrod.
2. Purchase the AN/APS-125 radar and combine it
with a British avionics package.
3. Purchase the rotodome and antenna from the E-
2 and combine with a British radar transmitter,
receiver and avionics package.
4. Develop a wholly British radar system and
avionics package using a Fore Aft Scanner
System (FASS) rather than the E-2 radome.
The fourth option would maintain both employment and Britain's position at the forefront
of radar technology and development; however it was also riskier than purchasing an
"off the shelf" product or spreading the risk across multiple partners. In 1977, the US
had made an offer to NATO for purchasing several of the new E-3 Sentry aircraft, which
were being delivered to the USAF; this was intended to provide airborne early warning
cover for Europe's NATO nations without having to rely on the United States, and
eventually came into being as the NATO E-3A Component, which was planned to be
stationed in the United Kingdom.[6] However, the complex multi-lateral negotiations
eventually led the United Kingdom to pursue the all-British development. [7]
Development issues[edit]

A Comet 4 was fitted with a nose radome for initial aerodynamic flight testing
The complexity of the AEW requirement proved too much for British industry to
overcome by itself. A major project management issue was the appointment of British
Aerospace (BAe) and GEC Marconi as joint programme leaders. This meant in practice
that as development issues arose, the companies had a distressing tendency to blame
each other for the problem rather than try to resolve it; while BAe was able to fulfil its
part of the contract by delivering the aircraft on time (the first was due to be delivered in
1982, with full delivery by 1984), GEC was unable to solve the difficulties in developing
the avionics.[8]
In 1977 an RAF Comet 4 was modified for flight testing with the nose radome and
conducted a series of trials, the results of which proved promising enough for an order
for three prototype Nimrods to be built using redundant MR1 airframes. [9] The first of
these was rolled out in March 1980 and flew for the first time in July, and was intended
to test the flight characteristics, with the second airframe planned to carry out trials of
the Mission Systems Avionics (MSA) package.[1]

Nimrod AEW.3 at RAF Finningley in 1985

Despite the problems, the project continued, and 8 production aircraft were ordered
(which would also come from spare MR1 airframes). The first of these flew in March
1982.[9] Even while the technical problems were being worked on, the aircraft was
delivered to the RAF's No 8 Squadron in 1984 to begin crew training.[9] The technical
problems proved insurmountable for the Nimrod AEW to be deployed in the Falklands
War.[10] To provide some degree of cover, several Nimrod MR.2 were quickly modified to
undertake the airborne surveillance role for the task force however. [11]
Aircraft[edit]
The choice of the Nimrod airframe proved to be the wrong one, as it was too small to
accommodate the radar, electronics, power generation and cooling systems needed for
a system as complex as the one required[12] – at just over 38.5 m (126 ft), the Nimrod
was close to 8 m (26 ft) shorter than the Boeing 707 aircraft that formed the basis of the
E-3 Sentry, with the planned all-up weight around half that of the American aircraft, but
was expected to accommodate sufficient crew and equipment to perform a similar
function.[1] Nimrod was designed to have a total of six operator consoles (4 for the radar,
one for ESM and one for communications), which was less than the nine stations fitted
aboard the E-3A. The size of the Sentry also meant there was room to increase the
number of operators.[1] Having the Sentry's radar in the rotodome above the aircraft
allowed for cooling to be undertaken directly by the airflow, with cooling doors mounted
in the installation, while the transmitter had a separate liquid cooling system, and the
avionics in the main section were sufficiently cooled by a conventional air
cycle environmental system.[13] This was in contrast to the Nimrod's "heat sink" design
that dispersed the heat through the fuel system, and which needed the fuel tanks to be
at least half-full to work efficiently when the aircraft's system operated at full power. [1]
Avionics[edit]

Even getting the radar scanners mounted on the Nimrod's nose and tail to synchronise proved problematic

The MSA was based around a GEC 4080M computer, which was required to process
data from the two radar scanners, the ESM system, IFF and inertial navigation systems.
The integration of all of these systems into a single package proved too difficult for the
underpowered computer, which had an ultimate data storage capacity of 2.4 MB.[1] By
the time of the project's cancellation, the mission system mean time between failure was
around two hours, yet it took around two and a half hours to load all the mission data via
a tape system.
What mission performance there was largely due to the Cossor IFF interrogator which
complemented the radar system: with the addition of IFF data, the system could
successfully track aircraft carrying IFF transponders, but when the IFF was switched off,
radar tracks would rapidly be lost. This meant that the system would successfully track
civil and 'friendly' military aircraft, but would not reliably detect Warsaw Pact aircraft
which did not carry a compatible IFF system – detection of which was the whole point of
the project.
The mission system electronic racks were earthed to different points on the airframe,
which led to differences in earth potential and the introduction of short-lived, random
track information which added to the computer overload. Finally, the advanced design of
the radar proved difficult – the FASS method to gain full 360° radar coverage was
problematic, involving as it did the scanner in the nose making a left to right sweep, with
the signal then immediately passed to the scanner in the tail, which would sweep right
to left.[14] However, getting the two scanners to synchronise proved difficult, resulting in
poor all-round surveillance capability. [1] The system also split incoming raw radar
information into upper and lower beams, each of which was then further split into in-
phase and quadrature-phase channels. Each of these 4 channels contained identical
individual elements (such as a spectrum analyser), which in theory should have been
entirely interchangeable between locations.
Joint Trials Unit (JTU) testing showed that in fact the system would only work with a
particular device in a particular place in the system: putting the same device in one of
the other 3 channels would not give a serviceable system. The consequence of this was
that the JTU trials aircraft would fly loaded with spare electronic devices so that when
system failure occurred, there was a better chance of finding a particular combination of
system elements which would work. This would not have been a sustainable practice
had the aircraft entered service. The reason for this issue was never resolved: the JTU
suspicion was that tolerances in transmitting information through each channel were too
loose, so that as the processed information emerged from each channel to be
correlated back into a coherent picture, such correlation was in fact impossible since
each channel was offering up a different 'time slot' to the others.
Cancellation[edit]
"...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"
Historians Ron Smith and Jacques Fontanel, discussing the procurement process.[7]

At the time that the first production Nimrods were being delivered to the RAF,
the MoD decided to conduct a complete review of the AEW programme. The result of
this was the start of a bid process to supply AEW aircraft for the RAF that began in
1986, with a number of different options put forward, including the E-2C Hawkeye, E-3
Sentry, P-3AEW&C Orion, a proposal from Airship Industries, and the Nimrod.
[6]
 Eventually, the Best and Final Offers were sought from GEC Marconi with the Nimrod,
and Boeing with its Sentry. In December 1986, the Sentry was finally chosen and the
Nimrod AEW programme was cancelled.[9][8] In spite of the project's difficulties, India
expressed interest in procuring the Nimrod AEW3; these investigations continued even
after the British government's eventual cancellation of the project. [15]

The E-2 Hawkeye, P-3 Orion AEW&C and E-3 Sentry were all considered as alternatives to the Nimrod
The MoD's review of the AEW programme eventually led to Boeing's E-3 Sentry being chosen instead of the
Nimrod.

The Nimrod programme had cost in the region of £1 billion up to its cancellation,
contrasting with manufacturer claims in 1977 that the total cost of the project would be
between £200–300 million.[7][16] The unused airframes were eventually stored and used
as a source of spares for the Nimrod R1 and MR2 fleets, while the elderly Shackleton
aircraft that had been commissioned in 1971 as a "stop-gap" measure for AEW cover
until the planned entry of the Nimrod were forced to soldier on until 1991 when they
were replaced by the Sentry. The scandal over the collapse of the Nimrod AEW project
was a major factor in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's stance to open up the UK
defence market to competition.[17]
Potential future use[edit]
Following the cancellation of the Nimrod AEW programme, BAe began looking at ways
that the now redundant airframes could be re-used, and commenced studies looking at
the potential use of the Nimrod as a missile carrying strike aircraft. This would have
seen the AEW modifications, primarily the FASS scanners, and the fuel and cooling
systems installed in the weapons bay, removed. The Searchwater radar, at the time
fitted to the Nimrod MR.2, would have been installed in a nose installation, and the
weapons bay outfitted to accommodate up to six Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles.
[18]
 However, this did not go beyond the study phase, and the airframes were eventually
scrapped during the 1990s.[19]

Operators[edit]
 United Kingdom

 Royal Air Force

o Nimrod AEW Joint Trials Unit

Aircraft on display[edit]
No complete Nimrod AEW3 survive fully intact, however 3 cockpits/ fuselages are intact

 XV259 - Solway Aviation Museum , Carlisle Airport,

Cumbria, England - cockpit only surviving part
 XV263 - Brough , Yorkshire, England - Fuselage
used as the fatigue test rig for the Nimrod MRA4
wing.
 XZ287 - Stafford camp, Staffordshire, England -
Fuselage only surviving part

Specifications (Nimrod AEW3)[edit]

Nimrod AEW3 at the Farnborough Airshow, 1980
Data from Aeroflight – BAE Systems Nimrod[9]

General characteristics

 Crew: up to 12
 Length: 137 ft 8.5 in (41.974 m)
 Wingspan: 115 ft 1 in (35.08 m)
 Height: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
 Wing area: 2,121 sq ft (197.0 m2)
 Empty weight: 86,000 lb (39,009 kg)
 Max takeoff weight: 187,800 lb (85,185 kg)
 Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce RB 168-
200 turbofan engines, 12,140 lbf (54.0 kN) thrust
each
Performance

 Maximum speed: 304 kn (350 mph, 563 km/h)

 Service ceiling: 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
Avionics

 GEC Marconi Argus-2000 Mission Systems Avionics

system incorporating:
o Thorn EMI Skymaster F band pulse
doppler air search radar
o Loral ARI-18240/1 ESM system
o Cossor Jubilee
Guardsman IFF interrogator-responder
o Ferranti FIN 1012 inertial navigation
system

See also[edit]

 Aviation portal

Related development
  BAE Systems Nimrod MRA.4
 British Aerospace Nimrod MR.2
 Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.1
 Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R.1
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

 Avro Shackleton AEW.2

 Beriev A-50 Shmel
 Boeing E-3 Sentry
Related lists

 List of AEW&C aircraft operators

 List of AEW&C aircraft
 List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force

References[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Nimrod
AEW3.

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:                "BAe Nimrod AEW3". The Spyflight
a b c d e f g h

Website. Archived from  the original on 2 May 2012.

Retrieved 11 May 2011.
2. ^ Aboulafia, Richard (May 2001). "Airborne Early Warning:
An affordable necessity?". Aerospace America. Archived
from  the original on 15 January 2011. Retrieved 12
May 2011.
3. ^ "Airborne Early Warning". globalsecurity.org. 7 July 2011.
Retrieved 27 July2015.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c Hirst, Mike (1983). "From Skyraider to
Nimrod...Thirty Years of British AEW". Air
International. 25 (5): 223–230.
5. ^ "The Shackleton Years". VIII Squadron. No. 8 Squadron
RAF Association. 18 March 2009. Archived from the
original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 25 September  2012.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b "The Nimrod AEW Saga". 8 Squadron History.
8squadron.co.uk. 4 September 2006. Archived from  the
original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved  11 May  2011.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c Bellany and Huxley 1987, p. 77.
8. ^ Jump up to:    George Younger,  Secretary of State for
a b

Defence  (18 December 1986). "Airborne Early Warning

Aircraft".  Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom:
House of Commons. col. 1351–1353.
 9. ^ Jump up to:          "BAE Systems Nimrod". Aeroflight.
a b c d e

Retrieved 11 May 2011.
10. ^ Braybrook 1982, p. 9.
11. ^ Braybrook 1982, p. 40.
12. ^ Kopp, C (March–May 1989). "AEW and
AWACS". Australian Aviation. Air Power
Australia.  1989  (May/June). Retrieved  12 May  2011.
13. ^ "Boeing E-3A Sentry". Virtual Aircraft Museum.
Retrieved 11 December 2013.
14. ^ Hewish, Mark (1981).  "Britain's air defences grow new
teeth". New Scientist. Reed Business Information. 89 (1244):
682–684.
15. ^ Smith 1994, p. 125.
16. ^ "Could Nimrod Clip AWACS Wings?" New Scientist,
73(1042), 10 March 1977. p. 586.
17. ^ Chin 2004, p. 156.
18. ^ Gibson, Chris (2011).  Vulcan's Hammer: V-Force Projects
and Weapons Since 1945. Manchester: Hikoki Publications.
p. 181.  ISBN  978-190210917-6.
19. ^ Hastings, David (4 March 2013). "Nimrod
Production". Target Lock. Archived from the original  on 24
September 2015. Retrieved  10 June 2013.

Bibliography[edit]
 Bellany, Ian and Tim Huxley. (Ed.) "New Conventional Weapons
and Western Defence". Routledge, 1987. ISBN 0-7146-3310-0.
 Braybrook, Roy. Battle for the Falklands: Air Forces. London, UK:
Osprey Publishing, 1982. ISBN 0-85045-493-X.
 Chin, Warren. "British Weapons Acquisition Policy and The Futility
of Reform". Ashgate Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7546-3121-4.
 Conner, Steve. "Nimrod Reaches to the End of the Runway". New
Scientist, 111(1519), 31 July 1986, pp. 33–36.
 Smith, Chris (1994).  India's Ad Hoc Arsenal: Direction Or Drift in
Defence Policy?. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829168-X.

show

Hawker Siddeley Nimrod related aircraft

show

British Aerospace and BAE Systems aircraft

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 Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United
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