Could the MRA4 deploy Paveway
 

Might a bit of a silly question....but...
Could the Nimrod MRA4 carry such weapons as Paveway or Storm Shadow within the bomb bay or on the pylons.
It is already designed for Harpoon and of course the AIM-9...

Could the Nimrod be deployed as a limited 'strategic' bomber, and if so, why hasn't it been designed as such as of yet?

Afterall the designation is there... "Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack"

Please be gentle :*

The short answer is Yes....

If it fits and the airframe can cope then any weapon can be fitted to any aircraft.

Why isn't it done..... Money.

Contracted 'for but not with' :ugh: , means more money to BWOS :sad: when the capability is required.

MRA 4 will be capable of carrying the Storm shadow, both under the wings and in the bomb bay...

Was told by an MRA4 project geezer at warton that the 4 was capable of carrying some ridiculous number of generic PGMs, in the high teens iirc. He reckoned it could also be tweaked to carry amraam.... hehe

But would the MoD deploy the MRA4 in any conflict armed with the Storm Shadow, probably not.
Is it the fact our Government doesn't believe in strategic bombers nowadays or is it another factor, other than cost?
The USAF have B1B and B52H bombers orbiting over Iraq and Afghanistan providing CAS to the troops on the ground with JDAMs and other ordnance.

A Nimrod MRA4 with a suitable weapon load of Precision Guided Bombs in the bay and/or pylons could also do this, it has inflight refuelling, a long endurance.... and it has the capability to do other mission profiles while its at it, such as ISTAR.

Also, wouldn't One or Two Nimrods oribiting the theatre with its long 'on-station' time be cheaper than using several ground attack jets on several sorties which require inflight refuelling in each from the old VC-10s?

...not when yoiu factor in the catering costs.

The MRA.4 wil have the MIL-STD-1553B databus, and the ability (software dependant) of carrying anything in the inventory that will fit....

Don't you mean MIL STD 1760 :)

And if it was flying for any other countries air force, they would probably use it to it's maximum potential. Here in the UK they seem to do it differently.

No I don't think he does. MIL-STD-1760 as used on GR4 and GR9 is merely an interface between elements of the 1553B and "smart" external stores. It's not a databus in it's own right.

C130K, C-130J and A400M all have 1553 but they can't launch weapons such as PW4 and SS.

True you need 1553 to talk amongst the military mission systems, but you need 1760 to be able to talk to a weapon like SS or PW4.

Standby For Action!
 

The MRA *could* carry any number of different PGM options but the only weapon currently contracted for integration is Stingray. Full stop.

The project team needs to complete and deliver the contracted standard before anyone starts thinking about exotica like Storm Shadow or Paveway IV.

VC

MIL-STD-1760 is a variant of the MIL-STD-1553 bus, primarily used with weapons buses on aircraft. It follows the normal 1553 protocol but certain messages require a Cyclical Redundancy Check (CRC) be used as the last word in the message. There are also a number of discretes used for weapon power supplier, switching and launcher interlocks.

regards

retard

Sorry chap, not quite right there. It will not carry Stormshadow in the bomb bay, due to a technical detail with stormshadow that I will not go into on this forum, but it will have the option to carry them on pylons.
Tricky Tree is spot on with regards to the above.
Finally, the MRA4 went through an enhanced capabilities programme in 2003, which looked at several options. It was agreed that, due to cost, the extra ordnance would not be looked at. However, to ensure future compatibility, it was agreed that it would be sensible to include the wiring enablers for the extra 'toys' during the build phase of the MRA4. Whether this has been carried out, I do not know, however, it showed pretty good foresight from an IPT that has, in the past, overlooked many aspects.
M7 Sends

vecvec,

And if it can be safely released.

sw

FFS

Do you have any idea about planning considerations for employing LGBs?

What's the minimum release speed?

What's the FT of a PW 2/3/4?

How many Storm Shadows do you think we have?

Why would we use one of the huge fleet of MRA4 to employ SS when there are several more ac vastly more suited to fire the damn things?

passportout.
Spoken like a true FJ mate.
Couldn't possibly fit useful munitions to something as unpunchy as a MEng A/C unless of course it just happens to be overhead the target for hours anyway. No no that just wouldn't be right.:=
The ME guys would probably be "utterly utterly useless" at it anyway.
Hang on a minute... I've heard that phrase before....
Standing by:ok:

Knowing the 18Gp way of doing things, it'll probably be 'Paving-slabs' rather than anything else...

The MRA4 has not even been cleared to be flown by standard pilots yet. Test pilot only TPO clearence don't you know, its so unstable at rotate it might never get said clearence. So its a little early to be hoping that it might carry any weapons.