A British P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol aircraft was reassigned from an exercise to support NATO warships tasked with shadowing Russian vessels.
The Royal Air Force said in a news release that the Russian warships, which included Slava Class cruisers, Udaloy Class destroyers, and their support vessels, were monitored from a discrete distance as part of the NATO collective defence mission.
A RAF P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from @RAFLossiemouth has joined other @NATO ships and aircraft to locate & track Russian Navy warships in the Mediterranean Sea. It was reassigned from a training mission to support other NATO ships.
Read more: https://t.co/taR1oztMX0 pic.twitter.com/AIdxMogxDr
— Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) March 3, 2022
Squadron Leader Dave Higgins, Mission Commander CXX Squadron, was quoted as saying:
“We were able to use Poseidon, one of the most capable intelligence platforms in the world, to support our allies by getting in close and identifying those ships. As one of the only nations within NATO with this platform, our involvement enhances the ability of the Alliance to monitor Russian activity.
It was a great demonstration that a British sovereign maritime patrol capability is ready to assist allies and partners in combined operations. It was also important to show that we’re standing alongside our NATO partners and other nations, contributing to the security of the Alliance.
We have a selection of the most modern, advanced, and capable sensors fitted to any aircraft in the world. Our search radar, combined with our video camera and other advanced sensors that allow us to detect radars and other emissions, means we can very quickly produce a picture of exactly what’s happening on the surface of the sea.”
The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an American maritime patrol aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, modified from the 737-800ERX. It was originally developed for the United States Navy.
Mis-read the headline as “British aircraft attacks Russian warships..” and almost had a coronary!
Good to see this asset being put to use down there especially with the landing ships manoeuvring off Odessa at the moment
Be a game changer in that corner of the country if a couple of the truck mounted NSM’s the USMC were trialling recently found their way into Ukrainian hands
Lol…love the last bit.
Can the RAF have a few more P-8s? They’re getting worked hard already.
Or some stray torpedos happened to find their way into these landing ships…
From what I can gather (from Twitter experts) the approach to Odessa is quite narrow meaning any opposition when landing could be seriously damaging to the landing force.
Maybe a reason why they are just sat there offshore. Potentially waiting for the land forces to push West and take the port area to secure a beachhead for landing more forces.
Saw this earlier on it’s Hetman Sahaidachny, the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy , or was, it was scuttled to prevent the Russians getting their hands in it.
rumour is it was scuttled to stop Russia getting it,s hands on it..
British P-8 Poseidon ???? British ???? I thought is made by US Boeing… some fake news then
Are you some sort of idiot?
😆 👍
a bit harsh george
Not harsh enough 😔
You are a plank 🥱
Congratulations!
https://image.spreadshirtmedia.net/image-server/v1/mp/products/T6A2MPA4289PT17X43Y49D10796731S107CxD41C3B:xFFFFFF/views/1,width=550,height=550,appearanceId=2,backgroundColor=F2F2F2,modelId=1405,crop=list/stop-being-a-cunt-eushirtcom-eu-mens-t-shirt.jpg
One for your fellow countryman Vlad to wear, It’s what the west has been telling him after all.
Haha. First thing I thought when I saw image 1 of 2. What’s the 2nd one.
This the best you Russian tools can offer? 🤡
Another 9 would be a good idea and split North and South as the Nimrod team was. Culdrose has space for them.
Everything is up for consideration at the moment. The UK’s recent report is all but dead when it comes to weapon numbers, and the fact we no longer produce heavy-tracked armour such as CH2 and artillery means we are now dependent on foreign suppliers. However, will there be spare capacity to furnish the UK? In the case of these planes, we possibly need a fleet similar in numbers to the original Nimrod squadrons? With Russian naval vessels operational on a global scale a fleet of nine P8s is wholly inadequate.
We need an UOR to get anti ship weapons on those aircraft. Also on at least one of the typhoon squadrons and f35s. It can’t wait until the end of the decade!
what surge?
What surge? HMG haven’t announced any new MoD spending.
German defence is getting a boost but nothing from our government yet.
I’d be happy with Tranche 3 Typhoons to replace the T1s; keep the numbers around 150 Typhoons.
Regarding the F35s I’d be ecstatic at an even 100, all in service at once. 100 could produce 5 squadrons (60) plus an OCU (12) a 3-plane test squadron and 25 spares – I guess 24 if we count the one that went for a swim!
MARTE ER’s design takes into account that MARTE MK2/S is already qualified and installed on these two platforms.
“MARTE ER missile is going to be integrated on Eurofighter TYPHOON and other fast jets.
This offers the following advantages:
Same mechanical, functional & electrical helicopter interfaces
No platform hardware changes required to manage the MARTE ER missile, only software changes to the Store Management System (SMS) are required to manage longer range performance
The helicopter, with the new version of SMS software, is able to operate both MARTE MK2/S and MARTE ER missiles
Same logistic support, in terms of benches, trolley and most handling & maintenance tools and schedule”
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/02/first-end-to-end-firing-for-mbdas-marte-er-anti-ship-missile/
I always thought equipping them to our Naval Merlins as per the Italians would of been a good match for the subsequently cancelled anti ship requirement, as well as a titbit for Their involvement with Tempest.
I’m not clear whether Turkey has yet closed the Bosphorus to all navies or not?
I can’t see this government increasing defence spending anytime soon. I’ve watched interviews from Ben Wallace minister for defence and I have seen no indication or questioning from the media arguing for this, the British people have not protested about an increase. Other NATO members have committed and perhaps that could prompt a review. The government is watching and waiting to see how far Putin will go. Stupid beyond all reasoning because we have China to contend with.
I see Putin has announced Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, head of 7th Airborne division has been killed by a sniper.
Got to wonder if it wasn’t a revolver left on his desk in a locked room
Because the Indian Navy’s SOP required it.
Some sensitive features of the AN/ALQ-240 weren’t allowed to be sold on the India variant, so they have to revert to older magnetic detectors and a sensor suite developed by CAE. The RAF has the full Raytheon load out, same model and features as the USN.
The RAF needs to buy a few AN/APS-154’s. The planes are ready to accept them. It would turn the P-8 into a true multi role ELINT spy plane and greatly improve over-land surveillance.