A few points:
With the Aurora fleet, we had 3 x CP140As at one point. The Arcturus. It was an Aurora minus the ASW systems and a better SS radar. Those aircraft maxed out their hours and are laid up or monuments now. But they were used heavily in SURPATs (surface patrols, part of the MPA tasks).
Nomenclature: MPA, LRPA,CMMA. MPA means different things to different people.
ASW is just one of many missions our LRP Sqns do. We have and continue to confuse ourselves and our identity with our own names swaps. VP was too American, MP was not broad enough so we adopted LRP. Our own identity crisis leads to confusion on what is the difference between a MPA and a MSA, MMA etc. in this thread we become bogged down some on “the name”; perhaps made worse because the project itself isn’t MPAA or LRPA replacement. People in the fleet have asked “are we changing to 4XX Multi Mission Sqn?”
To me, a MPA includes the ability to attack maritime surface and sub- surface hostiles. That is where/how I delineate.
But using those expensive to buy, expensive to operate and expensive to crew aircraft for ALL the needed tasks isn’t necessary; We still do SURPATs and the ASOs are usually pretty bored, for example. The same tasks can be done as effectively and more cost efficient with a smaller aircraft and crew.
MSAs don’t have to be limited to maritime only or DomOps only. Overland, SAR, ISTAR…all possible.
Just to cage brains again, here is what Canada is looking for from the CMMA:
Entitled Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft (CMMA), this replacement aircraft will be required by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to provide the following minimum operational capabilities, which are defined in Annex A:
Search and Rescue (SAR);
Command, Control, Communications, Computers (C4), Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance (ISR) (C4ISR);
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW);
Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW);
Communications Relay;
Network Extension; and
Overland Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance
(ISTAR).
Do you know if Airbus has cracked the code on environmental control for torpedoes?
.
www.thedrive.com
