Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint

The UK Ministry of Defence will sign a contract within the next few weeks to replace its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft, having deemed the capability an essential element of its future military equipment inventory.
Once finalised, the deal will advance the planned acquisition of three stored [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Rivet Joint airframes from the US government. These will be modified for operational use by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems in the USA.
Confirming that a previous proposal to modify BAE Systems' three development examples of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s new-generation Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft has been rejected, a senior military source says the Rivet Joint contract will be signed "within weeks.
We have the approvals, and we have an agreement. We just don't have a contract yet," the source adds.
Long-term activities with the RAF's three Nimrod R1s had appeared to be at risk following the MoD's surprise move in December to accelerate the retirement of its remaining Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol aircraft. Its last Kinloss-based MR2s will stop flying by 31 March, a year sooner than previously planned, and two years before the last of nine replacement MRA4s will be handed over.
The military source says operations with the R1 will be safeguarded until the new Rivet Joint assets become available, partially by using cost savings generated by the MR2 fleet retirement. "There will be no capability gap," the source adds.

The RC-135V/W is the USAF's standard airborne [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] platform. Its sensor suite allows the mission crew to detect, identify and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] signals throughout the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. The mission crew can then forward gathered information in a variety of formats to a wide range of consumers via Rivet Joint's extensive communications suite. The interior seats 34 people, including the cockpit crew, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] officers, intelligence operators and airborne systems engineers. All Rivet Joint [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and mission systems modifications are performed by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], under the oversight of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
All RC-135s are assigned to Air Combat Command. The RC-135 is permanently based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska., and operated by the 55th Wing, using various forward deployment locations worldwide. Under the "BIG SAFARI" program name, RC-135Vs were upgraded from the RC-135C "Big Team" configuration, itself a mission modified RC-135B (the first version delivered). RC-135Ws were originally delivered as C-135B transports, and all were modified from RC-135Ms.

'' The military source says operations with the R1 will be safeguarded until the new Rivet Joint assets become available, partially by using cost savings generated by the MR2 fleet retirement. "There will be no capability gap," the source adds."

Jeannot a écrit:Je ne pense pas car les missions des R1 et des futurs MRA4 sont différentes.

The UK Ministry of Defence will sign a contract within the next few weeks to replace its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft, having deemed the capability an essential element of its future military equipment inventory.
Once finalised, the deal will advance the planned acquisition of three stored [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Rivet Joint airframes from the US government. These will be modified for operational use by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems in the USA.

Confirming that a previous proposal to modify BAE Systems' three development examples of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s new-generation Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft has been rejected, a senior military source says the Rivet Joint contract will be signed "within weeks.

Jeannot a écrit:Sans doute un problème budgétaire. Les vieux RC-135 stockés doivent être plus abordables que les Nimrod MRA4.

The UK has agreed to buy three Boeing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] electronic intelligence aircraft and related ground equipment from the USA, defence secretary Bob Ainsworth has announced.

Confirming the development on 22 March, Ainsworth said the aircraft will deliver a "vital capability for the Royal Air Force to replace the [British Aerospace] Nimrod R1 that will be retired from service in March 2011".

The UK Ministry of Defence will introduce the Rivet Joints under Project Helix, a long-running effort to upgrade or replace its Nimrod R1 fleet, which was reduced to two airframes in 2009.

Operated by 51 Sqn at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, these will be the RAF's only active Nimrods from 31 March, when its last maritime patrol- and surveillance-configured MR2s will be retired.
The Nimrod MRA4 will replace the latter type, and is scheduled to achieve delayed initial operational capability in October 2012.

Defending the MoD's interest in the RC-135 system during a House of Commons debate on 20 March,
minister for defence equipment and support Quentin Davies noted:
"The US Air Force plans to use Rivet Joint until 2040. According to its schedule, it will start to withdraw the system from 2036 going on to 2043."

While declining to "prejudge the competition", he said a possible RAF fleet of RC-135s would be flown with "exclusively British crews", and that the UK would decide how to share gathered intelligence data. "We retain complete sovereignty
over the ownership of that intelligence.
There is no danger of our losing that," he said.

Davies' comments hinted that the Rivet Joint solution had been favoured over a one-time suggestion for BAE to convert development examples of the MRA4 due to considerations on the "cost, delivery time and technical risk" of such an activity.

U.K. Defense Review Must Not Delay ISR

London will spend at least $2 billion on two big-ticket intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) projects, to enter service in 2014 and 2015, but the pending defense review could undercut efforts in this important area.
The Defense Ministry finally reached a deal to acquire three Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft—at a cost of around $1 billion—to replace its two remaining Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft, with a letter of offer and acceptance signed March 19. The ministry also plans to buy at least 18 medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAVs to meet its operational unmanned aerial system (OUAS) requirement.
The RC-135 is slated to enter service in 2014, with the OUAS due to follow in December 2015. A full operational capability with the latter system—meeting the deep and persistent requirement of the ministry’s Dabinett ISR architecture and collection project—would follow at the end of 2021. The procurement cost of the OUAS is estimated to be roughly £640 million ($954 million).
However, London’s present ISR agenda could be slowed because of the pending defense review, which is due to gain momentum immediately after the British general election, to be held as early as May. Parliament’s Defense Committee warns that any delay would be an error.
“There is the possibility that plans for the development of Istar [intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance] capability might be put to one side or slowed during the process of the Strategic Defense Review, not just on account of financial constraints but because of the cross-service nature of the capability,” the committee states in its latest report. “This should not be allowed to happen.”
The report, entitled “The Contribution of Istar to Current Operations” and released March 25, also warns that “failure to proceed at least according to existing plans to improve Istar capability and to fund those improvements sufficiently that they accord with the existing timetable would be ­misguided.”
The R1s are being withdrawn from service in 12 months, although the Royal Air Force will not operate the RC-135s until three years later. In the interim, it is believed U.K. personnel will serve on U.S. Rivet Joint aircraft. However, the Defense Ministry declines to detail its agreement with the U.S. with regard to covering the capability gap.
Airframe fatigue issues, rather than any safety concerns, may be the cause of the early withdrawal of the R1, which had originally been slated to remain in service to 2025. The loss of a Nimrod MR2 (and the death of all on board) in Afghanistan in 2006, following what was most likely a fuel leak resulting in a fire, raised concerns about the fleet.
The ministry had looked at two BAE Systems alternatives to the RC-135 as part of Project Helix—either updating the existing R1s or using the Nimrod MRA4s. Cuts in the number of MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft being bought by the Defense Ministry meant three development versions were available to be modified as the basis of a replacement for the R1.
BAE Systems had explored the possibility of integrating the Tigershark 2 communications intelligence suite on the MRA4 as part of an assessment of whether the company could meet the U.K. requirement for an R1 sigint/commint replacement. That was deemed possible, but London’s decision to pursue the RC-135 for that requirement means the sensor will be installed on the modified KC-135s. The Defense Ministry is unwilling to discuss the mission systems for the U.K. RC‑135s. It is aiming to sign the contract—a foreign military sales deal—for the three Rivet Joints by midyear. L-3 Communications is expected carry out the modification work, based on the KC-135 airframe.
Discussing Dabinett, the Defense Committee asserts that this is “a vital program for the future of U.K. Istar capability. . . . We expect the Strategic Defense Review properly to acknowledge that Dabinett is central to winning the intelligence war.”
In the near term, the Dabinett focus is on making better use of the available data. Lockheed Martin and BAE were recently awarded contracts for the competitive assessment stage of the Istar Information Integration & Management project, effectively the first phase of Dabinett. The demonstration and manufacturing element is anticipated to be awarded in early 2011.
Likely platform contenders for the OUAS armed MALE UAV include BAE Systems’ Mantis technology demonstrator, EADS’s Talarion and General Atomics’ Predator C Avenger.

USAF Rivet Joint

Three Rivet Joints (one of which is seen below, photography by Craig Hoyle) will enter RAF service from 2014 under what the DE&S has described as "the most complex combined Foreign Military Sales case and cooperative support arrangement that the UK has undertaken with the USAF since World War Two." The acquisition, which survived the nation's recent Strategic Defence and Security Review process, will involve three stored KC-135 tankers being converted to the RC-135W standard by L-3 Communications.
The DE&S says the UK's new assets - which will be dubbed Air Seekers - "will be supported, maintained and upgraded as part of a larger UK/US fleet of 20 aircraft". The USAF currently operates 22 RC-135-series aircraft, as listed in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

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