Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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After our short sojourn down memory lane or should I say along Mozambique Channel ... we set course to get us back to the thread topic. ;) - I recognise that it's a commercial piece, but the content IMO deserves a place on the thread, so a few excerpts and links (but no images) will be included in this post.


Copernicus Technology wins new MOD training contract for RAF P-8A Poseidon fleet

Published 18 Dec 2018

In 2018 the MOD's Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation awarded 2 contracts in support of RAF Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft to Copernicus Technology Ltd. In May Copernicus Technology won the contract to design and deliver a full range of Visual Recognition Training Packages covering surface, submarine and airborne units that aircrews are likely to encounter and will need to accurately identify whilst on maritime operations. On Tuesday 18th December they officially handed over a full Visual Recognition Training package to senior representatives of the RAF Poseidon MRA Mk1 program, pictured below.

Copernicus Technology also recently won a further DE&S contract to deliver the Training Management System for the RAF Poseidon MRA Mk1 aircraft. The RAF Poseidon fleet is the first customer for this Training Management System, which was designed around the requirements of the UK’s Defence Systems Approach to Training (DSAT) and is equally applicable to industries requiring complex training for high-risk environments such as Oil & Gas and Rail.

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Roo Hornby, the Copernicus Technology Business Development Director, said: “We are incredibly proud to have won these contracts to support the RAF Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft, close to our HQ in Moray, Scotland. We are delighted to be delivering the Visual Recognition Training package well ahead of schedule, because this will ensure the first crews to start their training in the New Year with the US Navy in Florida are fully prepared. We look forward to continuing our support of this contract over the next 3 years."

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Wg Cdr James ‘Snoopy’ Hanson was also present for the presentation of the Visual Recognition Training package. As the first Poseidon Squadron Commander, Wg Cdr Hanson commented that

Visual Recognition is a vital skill amongst our crews to ensure all our operations are conducted safely and accurately. The exceptional material provided by Copernicus Technology is both timely and of great value to my teams.”

Source; Copernicus Technology Ltd.

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Also something that should be of particular interest to Ivor vis-a-vis the functions of an Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

Maritime Patrol Aircraft Training

Training Specialisations

Our highly experienced Subject Matter Experts (SME) possess extensive instructional experience across a wide range of MPA and ISR disciplines. These include training offerings in MPA capabilities & operations, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare and Visual Target Recognition - each of which are detailed further at the bottom of the page.

Our training style is inclusive and inter-active, ensuring that all participants gain the very most from their course and retain as much as possible that is relevant to them. Where relevant training includes use of an innovative MPA Sensor Emulator, which allows a tactical crew to train and practice procedures in exploiting and coordinating multiple sensors simultaneously.
Training Design & Training Management Systems

We have benchmark experience in developing flying training to Defence Systems Approach to Training (DSAT) for the UK MOD (JSP822), including in capabilities well beyond Maritime Patrol and ISR. DSAT offers a top down approach to training design that allows a clear understanding of what skills are required to achieve a capability need, in what potential environment and to what standard. Furthermore, we partner with Aquila Learning to offer a Training Management System - ALaRMS - designed with a Systems Approach to Training for complex environments at its heart, along with Assurance and Risk Management capability. This system is already in use by the MOD helping prepare for the imminent arrival of the P-8A Poseidon to RAF Lossiemouth.

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Source; Copernicus Technologies Ltd
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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A couple of months since this event - but here are a couple of excerpts that might be of interest.
(didn't know Boeing had a facility in Sheffield :oops: )


Team Responsible for P-8A Poseidon visit in Factory Sheffield


Date: 13 Jun 2019

The team responsible for bringing the P-8A Poseidon into Royal Air Force service have visited a factory in Sheffield manufacturing parts for the new maritime patrol aircraft.

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The manufacturing facility, Boeing’s first in Europe, builds 137 separate components for the actuator systems which move the flaps on the wings, for each Boeing 737 aircraft.

P-8 Programme Director Group Captain Shaun Gee, who joined the RAF from his home town of Sheffield, said: “It’s been a privilege to visit the Boeing facility, housed on the site of the former Sheffield airport, near the home of Sheffield steel.

Many of the parts fabricated in the facility are made by a workforce including over 25 apprentices, from steel manufactured within 10 miles of the site. Parts from the Boeing Sheffield plant will be used on the RAF’s P-8A Poseidon MRA Mk1 and the E-7 Wedgetail in future.”

P-8 Programme Director
Group Captain Shaun Gee

Air Commodore Richard Barrow presented RAF P-8A Poseidon coins to high performing members of the Sheffield team. The apprentices on the 3-5 year programme work in association with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Material Research Centre.

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Source; Royal Airforces Association - Leicester Branch
Little h
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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The 201 Squadron was the oldest in the RAF and was the last to retain a local affiliation. Until it was disbanded in 2011, it carried the soubriquet 'Guernsey's Own'.

but

HMS Daring is 'Guernsey's Ship', see:-


Chief Minister, Deputy Mike Torode made the announcement at the start of the January 2008 meeting of The States of Deliberation that the Type-45 destroyer HMS Daring is 'Guernsey's Ship'.

All ships and submarines of the Royal Navy are affiliated with towns, cities or regions. This helps strengthen ties between the local communities and the Navy and provides benefits for organisations such as naval associations, youth groups and charities.

HMS Daring belongs to the most powerful destroyer class ever built in the UK, the Type 45 air defence destroyer. She is equipped with a state of the art defence system capable of tracking and destroying a target the size of a cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound............................

Article continues at BBC Home 13 November 2014 Guernsey (page archived and no longer updated)

Last updated: 22/07/2009 at 15:01
created: 30/01/2008
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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NavyLookout on Twitter
@NavyLookout

Defence Minister @annietrev hosted Norwegian State Secretary Tone Skogen at @RAFLossiemouth to discuss NATO in the North Atlantic.

Primarily ASW ops, UK, US and Norway will operate P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft and use RAF Lossiemouth base

ECE_uFWUIAIo3rj.jpg
gov.uk/government/news …

Excerpts from the linked News story, copied below:-

News story
UK and Norway Reinforce North Atlantic Security

The UK and Norway reinforced their commitment to joint anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic at RAF Lossiemouth today.
Published 15 August 2019

From:
Ministry of Defence, Defence Equipment and Support, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP



Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan hosted Norwegian State Secretary Tone Skogen to discuss NATO and the UK’s role in the North Atlantic.

The UK is investing £3 billion in nine new Boeing Poseidon P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, with Norway committing to a further five. The aircraft are sophisticated submarine-hunters designed to scout complex undersea threats.

The aircraft will work together, and with NATO allies, to combat a range of intensifying threats in the North Atlantic, including increased hostile submarine activity.

Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:

The UK’s maritime patrol aircraft programme demonstrates our ongoing commitment to working with international allies in the North Atlantic, strengthening our alliances with valued partners such as Norway.

Our two nations share basing facilities, undergo cold weather training together and patrol the seas and skies side-by-side allowing us to successfully face down the growing threats from adversaries in the North Atlantic region.

During the visit, the defence ministers experienced a demonstration flight in a US Navy Poseidon P-8A aircraft.

Norwegian State Secretary Tone Skogen said:

The UK and Norway have a long history of cooperation on maritime surveillance and operations. This close relationship will only improve now that we will operate the same type of MPA, the P-8 Poseidon. UK and Norwegian priorities are aligned in the North Atlantic, and we look forward to a close and integrated partnership in meeting common challenges within the realm of maritime security.

The entire nine-strong UK Poseidon P-8A fleet will be based at RAF Lossiemouth. The first aircraft has been built and has just completed its first test flight. It will be handed over to the RAF in the United States later this year and arrive in Scotland early in 2020.

Last year, the station broke ground on construction of a £132 million strategic facility for the new fleet, to be completed in 2020. The new facility is being constructed by Elgin-based Robertson Northern and will comprise a tactical operations centre, an operational conversion unit, squadron accommodation, training and simulation facilities and a three-bay aircraft hangar.

When all of these developments are complete there will be 470 additional service personnel based at RAF Lossiemouth, taking the total number of people employed there to 2,200.

RAF Lossiemouth is one of the most important air stations in the UK: it is already home to four RAF Typhoon squadrons – half of the RAF Typhoon Force – which conducts air policing work to protect the UK’s airspace from unwanted intrusion, and also on behalf of NATO in Eastern Europe to reassure allies.

The UK’s NATO commitments also include sending four RAF Typhoons to conduct air policing in Icelandic skies for the first time later this year. Such operations allow the RAF to develop valuable skills in new and challenging environments, as well as working closely with allies to protect Euro Atlantic security.

Earlier this month, RAF Typhoons benefitted from a £350 million contract with Rolls-Royce to support the maintenance of their EJ200 engines up to 2024.
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ivorthediver
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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All good news Harry , and to be applauded , thanks for sharing this with us .
"What Ever Floats your Boat"
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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Poseidon #02


NavyLookout Retweeted
Woodys Aeroimages
@AeroimagesChris
Aug 22

The 2nd P-8 for @RoyalAirForce @RAFLossiemouth fresh out of the factory awaiting its first engine start and flight.

7642 64176 N469DS ZP802 737-8FV Royal Air Force
ECoA6dDU0AEqBnE.jpg
ECoA6dRUEAA2ZrP.jpg

To read comments and view the other two images - open the linked tweet
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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750 Naval Air Squadron train the RAF
18 March 2019

Two of the first weapons and sensors specialists for Britain’s new breed of maritime patrol aircraft have learned the fundamentals of their future jobs - with the Royal Navy.

Flight Lieutenants Phil Mowat and Jase McPherson are lined up to crew the RAF’s new Poseidon P8s – the long-range eyes and ears of the Submarine Service, scouring hundreds of square miles of ocean on each patrol looking for underwater threats.

The duo are the first air force Weapons System Officers (WSOs) to undergo training with the Fleet Air Arm’s 750 Naval Air Squadron.

The small Culdrose-based squadron teaches naval Observers how to use systems and sensors to locate, identify and plot targets or, say, direct a search and rescue mission… tasks very similar to those expected of RAF WSOs.


image001.jpg


Over 16 weeks, aircrew learn the fundamentals of the Observer/WSO role with 750 and its King Air Avenger ‘flying classrooms’ before they move on to train on the specific weapons, sensors, cameras and navigational aids on Wildcat and Merlin helicopters or the P8.

More than 100 men and women have passed out of 750 since the Avengers entered service; the aircraft have just passed the 100,000-hour milestone delivering training in the skies of the South West as part of the UK Military Flight Training Scheme.

Flt Lt Mowat said the four months at the air station just outside Helston had been “challenging and worthwhile” and the training facilities “excellent”.

He continued: “The Avenger, together with its avionics suite, is ideal for Weapons System Operator training.

“I am more than ready to take on the challenges of the P8 Poseidon.”

Both he and Flt Lt McPherson will head to Jacksonville, Florida, in October to begin Poseidon training alongside former colleagues from the Nimrod MR2 fleet.

“The course at 750 NAS has been very challenging – especially for the more mature students on the course – but I am more than prepared for the next stage of training,” said Flt Lt McPherson.

The former Nimrod flier lives just a dozen miles from the Poseidon’s future home at RAF Lossiemouth, near Elgin. Completing his training at Culdrose means he no longer faces a 750-mile commute.


Source; royalnavy.mod.uk
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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NavyLookout on twitter
@NavyLookout
24m24 minutes ago

NavyLookout Retweeted Andy Netherwood

Harpoon AShM visible under the wing in this mock up ?

Andy Netherwood
@AndyNetherwood

4:00 am - 23 Oct 2019

Coming to 1 Gp next week. The RAF is back in the MPA game.
Little h
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Little h
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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NavyLookout Retweeted
Martin Connell
@MartinJConnell
1h1 hour ago

UK takes delivery of 1st P-8 on west coast USA today & @AOC_1_Group & I get to fly in this aircraft tomorrow to east coast where we will embark in @HMSQNLZ via a #FleetAirArm Merlin. Exciting to be part of these new maritime capabilities #partnersindefence #normaldayattheoffice
EIEfoPaXkAEtp-I.jpg
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Methinks that rather than having a trip to the QE R08 - they could be adding som valuable real-time experience as part of the hunt for boats involved in the latest Russian break-out - just saying.

Late edit; Is that a Super Constellation I see on the right as we look at the image?
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Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1

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Yes looks like one to me Harry [ better explain to the rest though eh ...]
"What Ever Floats your Boat"
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