Mra4 At Eglin
One of the new BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4s is having a six week holiday in Florida having touched down at Eglin AFB after its first transatlantic hop earlier today.
During its six week deployment, the type's first outside Europe, the airraft and its systems will be subjected to environmental trials, undergoing a series of climatic tests in extreme temperatures, ranging from -40C to +45C.
The trials are being undertaken at the US DoD's McKinley Climatic Laboratory, the largest facility of its kind in the world, which will allow testing at any temperature and with engines running.
Engineers are due to test systems integrity in conditions ranging from the bitter cold of Alaska to dry desert heat of Arizona and will run simulations of day/night cycles as well as testing under high humidity and solar radiation conditions.
A team of 45 personnel, drawn mainly from BAE Systems, but including RAF, MoD, DPA, DQAG and QinetiQ have flown out to support the testing.
This is by far the most challenging deployment undertaken by the MRA4 to date and should go some way to demonstrating the maturity and reliability of the platform's systems at extremes of temperature.