Rivet Joints to replace UK's Nimrod R1s
SOURCE:Flight International
L-3 boss: Rivet Joints to replace UK's Nimrod R1s
By Stephen Trimble

L-3 Communications expects to receive approval in the second quarter of 2009 to supply RC-135 Rivet Joints to the UK Ministry of Defence, as replacements for its Royal Air Force fleet of three British Aerospace Nimrod R1 signals intelligence aircraft.

The MoD selected the US contractor last year for the Helix programme, which was expected to upgrade the electronic surveillance suite on the 51 Sqn-operated R1s, based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.

L-3 chief executive Michael Strianese, however, told analysts on 24 July that the Helix upgrade could soon be abandoned. "The UK has been reconsidering that decision, and we understand it is considering purchasing Rivet Joints instead," he said.


The RC-135 (above) is the backbone for the US Air Force's airborne electronic intelligence mission, with L-3 also acting as prime contractor for fleet upgrades.

Strianese says two major factors prompted the UK's interest in acquiring aircraft modified to the Rivet Joint standard. Firstly, the crash of Nimrod MR2 XV230 in Afghanistan in 2006 with the loss of 14 lives revealed that the "airframe was not quite as good as they thought", he says, with this having made it difficult to justify the cost of an expensive electronics upgrade.

Secondly, buying Rivet Joints offers the MoD the opportunity to improve interoperability with US forces, and to receive hands-on training with USAF crews before the first aircraft are delivered.

"I believe that the decision will get finalised in 'Main Gate' approval," says Strianese, who adds: "We will probably get a green light in the spring."

UK-based sources suggest that the Nimrod R1 fleet (XW664 pictured below) will now be retired around the same time as the RAF's remaining Nimrod MR2s. One notes that extending use of the type was deemed to be "politically unacceptable", given the widespread scrutiny of the type's safety, which has followed the loss of XV230.

source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/07/25/226076/l-3-boss-rivet-joints-to-replace-uks-nimrod-r1s.html


Replace extremely old aircraft with extremely old aircraft

Rivet Joint


" The USAF RC-135V/W RIVET JOINT surveillance aircraft are equipped with an extensive array of sophisticated intelligence gathering equipment enabling military specialists to monitor the electronic activity of adversaries. Also known as "RJ", the aircraft are sometimes called "hogs" due to the extended "hog nose" and "hog cheeks". RIVET JOINT has been widely used in the 1990's -- during Desert Storm, the occupation of Haiti, and most recently over Bosnia. Using automated and manual equipment, electronic and intelligence specialists can precisely locate, record and analyse much of what is being done in the electromagnetic spectrum. The fleet of 14 RIVET JOINT aircraft increased to 15 in late 1999 with the addition of a converted C-135B. The jet's conversion cost about $90 million.

Basic roles include:

* providing indications about the location and intentions of enemyforces and warnings of threatening activity
* broadcasting a variety of direct voice communications. Of highest priority are combat advisory broadcasts and imminent threat warnings that can be sent direct to aircraft in danger
* operating both data and voice links to provide target info to US ground based air defenses "

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/rivet_joint.htm


Nimrod R1, the ugly beast





Mobile airpower

"The enemy dies relaxed," observed a Lockheed Martin manager.

I would expect the RC-135 to be easier to maintain and be more reliable that what currently is in use.




"Korea has not been the only battle ground since the end of the Second World War. Men have fought and died in Malaya, in Greece, in the Philippines, in Algeria and Cuba, and Cyprus and almost continuously on the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. No nuclear weapons have been fired. No massive nuclear retaliation has been considered appropriate. This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin--war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him. It is a form of warfare uniquely adapted to what has been strangely called 'wars of liberation,' to undermine the efforts of new and poor countries to maintain the freedom that they have finally achieved. It preys on economic unrest and ethnic conflicts. It requires in those situations where we must counter it, and these are the kinds of challenges that will be before us in the next decade if freedom is to be saved, a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different kind of military training."-President Kennedy's Address at Graduation Exercises of the U.S. Military Academy, 1962
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"The reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted. I do rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of these men are the enemies of your enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss - the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year - sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So. You call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil."-Yuri Orlov, Lord of War
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Quote: I would expect the RC-135 to be easier to maintain and be more reliable that what currently is in use.

Cant be easier.BAE designs aren't reputable for this are they?


Squadron LaFayette.
French Air Force/AdA.

Always playing the t**t as usual.