Next-gen maritime patrol aircraft

[paperbackwriter]

FairyChatMom, or anyone else who knows, what’s the status for the projects to replace the current (aging) patrol fleet. From what I can tell, the P-7 is long dead, and the CSA program is “on hold”. Is there anything else? Any other plans or projects underway?

[Redsland]

Boeing offers a version of the 737 as a maritime patrol aircraft.

[ElvisL1ves]

… and it was awarded the Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft contract earlier this year. Boeing link.

[paperbackwriter]

Thanks, guys. Exactly what I was looking for.

[FairyChatMom]

Sorry I didn’t see this sooner. I have no facts to add, but rumor in my old office had it that Boeing got the contract because Lockheed-Martin was doing the Joint Strike Fighter and the gov’t didn’t want one company to be the only one making military aircraft. My personal, semi-informed opinion is that the P-3 variant wound have been the smarter choice.

But I no longer work Naval aircraft, so take my opinion for what it’s worth.

[ElvisL1ves]

AvWeek goes into some more detail:

Another industry official with insight into the competition said the Boeing and Lockheed Martin offerings were close in price and capability, although Navy acquisition chief John Young notes that Boeing’s was slightly cheaper. However, the industry official says Boeing’s proposal was more polished and heavily promoted the fact that the 737 has a commercial base, promises low operational expense and offers advanced connectivity for network-centric warfare.
…
A long-time Navy acquisition official and former program manager contends that industrial base considerations also played a role. “Boeing needed the work,” he says, in large measure because “Lockheed Martin has all the big-ticket items right now.” The win also provides an employee safety valve for Boeing, he contends. The company has overloaded the Army’s Future Combat System program with employees they don’t want to let go, including some formerly working on the Army’s canceled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter.

…
For some in the Navy, the decision to buy the 737 came as a surprise, in part because they contend “low-and-slow” missions performed by the P-3 can’t be duplicated on the twin-engine jet. Detecting advanced-design, low-signature submarines involves the use of sensors that often must be operated from near the ocean’s surface for long periods of time, the Navy official argued. “There are many missions, most of them not sexy, that the P-3 was good at and that the 737 may not do as well because its minimum speed at low altitude is too fast,” he added. “There’s been a big back-channel debate within the Navy about whether it was the right decision.”

However, supporters contend that the Navy’s need is for larger, sophisticated aircraft with the room to increase the crew size, payload and power. They could then serve as airborne nodes to analyze intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data direct from the battlefield without the time-consuming and communications-clogging option of sending it to facilities in the U.S.

Analysts predict that the Navy will look at several alternatives to do the “low-and-slow” segment of the anti-submarine warfare mission.