PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - UK Maritime Patrol Aircraft - An Urgent Requirement
Old 30th Oct 2014, 09:57
  #779 (permalink)  
Just This Once...
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 2,164
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PA,

Apart from 3 or 4 new capabilities I can only see the platform providing a supporting role to true maritime capabilities. Its routine strengths will be in the littoral domain, long-range radar ID of surface contacts, very low RCS contacts, plus the usual AIS correlation, surface search and link node. Of course, the platform itself can travel a long way and reposition at quite a speed. Clearly the new stuff is not is the public domain, despite the fruitless guessing of some on here who should know better.

Sentinel cannot replace or even touch the sides of what we need an MMA to do. But technology has moved on and Sentinel's COTS, open-archetecture windows-based systems has allowed (potentially) something to be fielded that could be quite remarkable. If not, then Raytheon will miss out on the money. Whilst I believe that these new capabilities will endure I do not see a long-term future for them hosted on Sentinel and they will probably migrate to another platform in due course, but probably beyond the current 2018 timeframe.

Sorry to be a bit vague, but you know how it is.
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