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British Aerospace Nimrod
[ Royal Air Force ]
The Navigators are classed as Nav1 and Nav2 on the crew and take turns in the two seats available to them - these are the TacNav's position and the RouteNav's position. The RouteNav as you might expect is involved in the main navigation of the aircraft, concerned with where the aircraft is in the World at any given time. The TacNav on the other hand is faced with one of the most demanding Navigator jobs in the Royal Air Force. It is his job to "fight" the aircraft, absorbing the mass of sensor information available and utilising it to achieve the given task - tasks as diverse as to either track and then destroy a submarine or to locate a missing fishing boat in a Search and Rescue incident.
The Air Electronics Officer liaises between the Navigators and the sensor operators, the AEOps.
The seven Air Electronic Operators are split into two teams, the "Wet Team" and the "Dry Team". The Wet team operate the Acoustics sensors, the very capable AQS-901 suite of which there are two systems on-board. This system monitors sonobuoys which the Nimrod crew drop into the sea to monitor acoustic noise. It is these sonobuoys which detect, and allow the crew to track, submerged submarines. The Wet team are chiefly responsible for photography, although all the AEOps can carry this task out.
The Dry team manage the above-water sensors, namely the Searchwater radar, the Yellowgate ESM system, the Magnetic Anomoly Detector (MAD) and operate the Nimrod's extensive communications suite. Both Wet and Dry teams can also cook! Since the Nimrod's sortie lengths can vary from 3 to 8 hours (and even longer with in-flight refuelling) the aircraft has a small galley area to produce tea, coffee and in-flight meals.
A typical crew-training sortie can last up to 8 hours and be flown anywhere between Iceland and the west coast of France. The Nimrod will fly to its area at the same altitudes as a normal airliner, before descending to as low as 200 feet over the sea whilst "On-task". The four Spey engines allow a fast transit to the Nimrod's operating areas and, once there, one engine is usually shut down, with another idling to conserve fuel and extend mission times.
Nimrods operate all over the World, frequently training in the United States, Canada, France, Norway, Iceland, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Oman, Sicily, the Netherlands and the Falkland Islands. Occasional visits are also made to Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Aircraft Description | Long range Maritime Patrol / Reconnaissance Aircraft |
| Engines | 4 Rolls Royce Speys |
| Speed | 460kts cruise, 240kts on task |
| Endurance | 9 hours (14.5 hours with in-flight refuelling) |
| Service Ceiling | 21,300 FT |
| Crew / Passenger No's | 13. Up to 13 extra personnel can be carried. |
| Height | 3m |
| Length | 126 ft 10in |
| Wingspan | 114ft 9in |
| Weapons | Stingray torpedoes
for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Harpoon missiles for Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW) Sidewinder air to air missiles for self-defence A wide variety of other stores can also be carried. |
| Sensors | Searchwater Radar
Two AQS-901 acoustic systems and associated sonobuoys Yellowgate Electronic Support Measures (ESM) Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) Sandpiper Infra-red detection system Missile Alert Warning System (MAWS) - coupled with wing mounted chaff and flare dispensers |
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