Maritim luftbåren overvåking - Foredrag i Luftmilitæret Samfunds avd. Rogaland i går

Takk til Harald Håvoll for å presentere det 3. og beste foredraget i en serie på tre . Det første i regi av LMS var politisk betinget. Det neste på Akershus Festning likeså, men dette var mye mer "hands on", altså konkrete elementer i diskusjonen, slike elementer journalister skygger unna for tiden.

En kan etter diskusjoner, konkludere med at en ikke kommer bort fra å ha en luftbåren ASW kapasitet. I praksis betyr dette LRMPA, altså Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft med en hele tiden oppdatert electronics suite for å kunne detektere stadig mer stillegående undervannsbåter. Til det formålet mener undertegnede og mange med meg, at det er snakk om å beholde P-3C, de har jo fått nye vinger, eller å skifte disse ut med P-8 Poseidon. En av de mest stillegående u-båtene til russerne er Borey klassen. Den regnes for å være mer stillegående en den amerikanske "boomer" Los Angeles Class som har vært noe å strekke seg mot. Nå er den forbipassert av russerne.

I følge AW&ST var det USA som tok initiativet til å etablere Operation Seedcorn. Det var et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom UK og USA hvor ca. 200 besetningsmedlemmer fra de nedlagte Nimrod skvadronene i UK, fikk tjenestegjøre sammen med USN besetninger slik at ikke kunnskapen vedr. ASW gikk tapt. En kan nå si at det såkornet fikk utvikle seg i fruktbar jorda da det for kort tid siden ble bekjentgjort at UK kjøper 9 stk P-8 uten noen form for anbud eller konkurranse. Hva må det betale for maskinene? Vanskelig å si, men spørsmålet må reises om ikke Norge kan få en deal lik den vi fikk da vi kjøpte P-3B i 1968. De fikk vi særdeles billig; $31,9 millioner inkludert reservedeler for halvannet år. Og dette var for 6 maskiner. Det ble som kjent 5. ("Request Tango" av Håvard Klevberg, side 258) Dette var også etter at det offisielle våpenhjelpprogrammet var avsluttet. Justert for inflasjon (inflation calculator) betyr dette US$ 38 mill./stk i dag. Rett og slett en gi-bort pris.

Kan RAF`s Poseidons opererer ut fra Norge? Nei, Norge opprettholder 24 grader øst grensen for allierte fly som opererer fra Norge.

Kan UAV`er ta jobben? Nei, kun i overvåkingsrollen.

[2.5] MILITARY 737S (3): P-8 POSEIDON

* The US Navy is also acquiring a highly sophisticated maritime patrol aircraft based on the 737, the "P-8 Poseidon". 

During much of the Cold War, the mainstay of ocean defense of the West was the Lockheed P-3C Orion, a four-turboprop maritime patrol aircraft. The Orion was built in large quantities and not only used by the US Navy (USN) but by many American allies. By the end of the 20th century, however, the Orion was beginning to show its age, and the USN began to cast about for a replacement. After a frustrating search, in 2004 the USN finally awarded a contract to Boeing for the "P-8A Poseidon Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA)", with plans to obtain up 117 machines.

The P-8A is a militarized 737, based on the fuselage of the 737-800 fitted to the wing and landing gear of the 737-900ER. It is clearly a weapon system, with a weapons bay in the fuselage for homing torpedoes and depth charges; four underwing pylons for Harpoon antiship missiles or other stores; and a rotary dispenser for up to 126 sonar buoys ("sonobuoys"), or stores designed to the sonobuoy form factor. The aircraft is equipped for mid-air refueling.

 

The primary combat avionics sensor is the Raytheon AN/APY-10 radar system, installed in the nose. The AN/APY-10 is a multimode search radar, with a "synthetic aperture radar (SAR)" capability for detection, imaging, classification, and identification of large or stationary vessels or for ground surveillance. The radar also features an "inverse SAR (ISAR)" capability to characterize small or fast moving vessels; has wide-area and high-resolution "spotlight" modes; and possesses passive signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, allowing it to detect, characterize, and locate a wide range of radio or radar "emitters". In addition, the P-8A carries a Wescam electro-optical / infrared camera turret for visual inspection of targets.

Other avionics include a GPS / inertial navigation system unit; a suite of communications gear for voice and datalink using direct transmission or satcom relay; and a self-defense suite, including a radar warning system, a heat-seeking missile dazzler, and towed decoys to divert radar-guided missiles. Crew includes pilot and copilot, plus five or six mission crew.

* Two static-test prototypes and three flight prototypes were ordered at the outset, the first making its initial flight on 25 April 2009. Three more flight prototypes were ordered later. Introduction to operational service was declared on 1 July 2013, with operational flights taking place before the end of the year.

Orion crews are glad to get their hands on the Poseidon, not least because it's a nicer ride: the Orion tends to fly rough, while the P-8A has the smooth quiet flight of a jetliner, an important consideration when flying long and exhausting patrols. Cockpit crew like the glass cockpit, though they say it doesn't really make life much easier for them, because the Poseidon has more functional capability than the Orion -- like running faster to stay in the same place. 

Fuel burn of the P-8A is poorer than that of the P-3C down low, but the fact that the P-8A can get to station compensates for that drawback; the P-8A has a higher ceiling, giving a bigger patrol "footprint". Landing roll is somewhat longer, the P-8A's thrust reversers not being as effective as the P-3C's reversible props.

The "tactical coordinators (TACCOs)" also like the aircraft's "Mission Computing & Display System (MCDS)", which allows them to display overlaid data from the aircraft's sensors and remote datalinked systems on the twin 61 centimeter (24 inch) displays of each TACCO workstation. The MCDS provides an annotated view of the battlespace, integrating inputs from up to 64 sonobuoys along with radar and video. The system includes a reference library to provide useful information on identified targets, as well as a stores menu to allow the TACCOs to select stores for deployment or launch. The TACCOs also will be able to communicate with other platforms over secure comlinks, including access to and control over unmanned aerial vehicles.

 

The P-8A is designed with upgrades in mind. Software will be updated every two to three years; to support new hardware, the aircraft provides 50% more power and cooling capability than needed at the outset and can handle almost 11 tonnes (12 tons) more payload. A new radar, the "Littoral Surveillance Radar System (LSRS)" is in the pipeline, while new "smart" munitions and small expendable drones, possibly dispensed from the sonobuoy launcher, are being considered as options. The expendable drones would be dropped to perform close-up inspections of targets, reducing the transit time and fuel burn required for the aircraft itself to descend and then return to cruise altitude.

In 2009, the P-8A was also selected by the Indian Navy as the "P-8I", with India to acquire eight machines, the first being delivered in late 2012. Four more were ordered in 2015. They are much the same as the US Navy P-8As, though with some Indian avionics factored in. India is also obtaining the Harpoon antiship missile and US torpedoes to arm their P-8Is.

Australia confirmed an order for eight P-8As in 2014, with deliveries from 2017. Australia also has a option for four more. The UK ordered nine in late 2015, specifics being unclear for the moment. Boeing expects more foreign sales of the type, particularly from nations that have been traditional users of the P-3 Orion. India was a high-profile sale for Boeing, since traditionally India has bought little or no military hardware from the USA.

Work is underway for an "Increment 2" upgrade to the P-8A, planned to be introduced before the end of this decade. At least some of the upgrades will feature the new Raytheon "Advanced Airborne Sensor (AAS)", an "active array" radar system derived from the AN/APS-149 Littoral Surveillance Radar (LSRS) carried on some Navy P-3C Orions and featuring a range of sophisticated surface surveillance modes. The AAS will be fitted in a long ventral canoe; it turns out that the selection of the 737-800 as the basis for the Poseidon was driven by the length of the canoe. It will be followed by an "Increment 3", which appears to be focused on an enhanced, reconfigurable battle management system. Australia has signed on to Increment 3 development, clearly as a preparatory measure towards obtaining the P-8A -- though there's no commitment to doing so yet.

* Boeing has been making broad comments about a "Medium-Sized Maritime Surveillance Aircraft" based on the P-8A, presumably based on a smaller 737 variant with a subset of the P-8A's capability. The USN has also been searching for a replacement for their airborne electronic intelligence (ELINT) platform, the EP-3E Aries, much like the P-3C except for payload. This requirement has proven even more difficult to deal with, and in fact at the present time no competition has been initiated to obtain the Aries replacement. Boeing has come up with notional designs for the "EP-X", based like the P-8A on the Boeing 737. Boeing envisions the EP-X as carrying 14 operator stations and an advanced active-array radar system. Ideas are being floated for modular payloads that could be swapped out to tailor the EP-X to different missions. For the time being, however, the EP-X is going nowhere.

Incidentally, when news of China's conversions of 737s to missile tracking platforms broke, there was some fussing in the defense blogosphere about the negligence of the USA in allowing China to use an American jetliner for military purposes, and for the fact that these Chinese special-mission platforms were in service so much more quickly than the P-8A.

It was a tempest in a teacup. The US government has little control over old jetliners sold on the international market, and comparing the Chinese conversions to the P-8A was like comparing a car given an updated sound system to one converted into an armored battle wagon. The conversions were no more challenging than that applied to the NT-43A; the Chinese could have used a wide range of older aircraft, it was just a question of installing special-purpose kit in some airframe that could truck it around. The P-8A, in contrast, is an optimized weapon system integrating a suite of sensors, armament, communications gear, and self-defense systems. Whatever problems have afflicted the P-8A program, it's in a different league.