Jackonicko,
I sense that some in the Defense Industry are trying to denigrate P8 in order to try and bolster their own product. I won't comment anymore on that, other than to say it's easy to make an MPA look good....... on powerpoint. And 'good enough is good enough', only if it can meet a required a delivery timeline. The Defense Industry is very good at promising on-time, on-budget products via shiny powerpoint slides.
I think the
size of buoys is a red herring; it's relevant only if you are short of space/weight.
The rest of your questions need answers that can't come via this forum. You are correct that multi-statics is a broad term and not unique to P8; however, the P8's multi-static capability will be unique.
There's lots of revolutionary capability inbound and, without a full read-in, it would difficult to fathom when viewed through a 'cold war lens'. I
sense that the SAAB sales pitch you've received was delivered from a team with such a lens. I may be wrong.
PN has such a lens and everything he has said is entirely correct as to how the Nimrod was operated in certain ASW roles. His arguments don't carry across to the modern epoch due to new technology that Nimrod didn't have.
4 hours at 1200nm was a key performance measure at initial test. It met the requirement.
I should have stated "4 hours
operating low level at 1200nm was a key performance measure at initial test. It met the requirement.
What was the driver, then?
This is an open source article from 4 years ago, the quote below is from the article:
http://www.militaryaerospace.com/art...-upgrades.html
Relatively high altitudes for the P-8A are to enhance communications range with large-area buoy fields, as well as to enhance coverage from other onboard non-acoustic sensors.
Anyway, I think I've hit the limit of what should be said on this forum. I wish you the best with your article and it would be great if you post a link to it on here when complete.
There are always two sides to every story, but I can only emphasize my previous sentiment that the P-8A is a fantastic aircraft that will be a superb asset for UK Defence - and in very short order. We're blessed to be getting it. Finally, I wish SAAB all the best marketing their product to allied nations around the World.