Harpoon missile

[Forest Green]

Systems like SLAM/-ER, Storm Shadow and Taurus require sophisticated ground terminals to assist in mission planning .... besides position co-ordinates, the image templates needed to the do scene matching has to be derived .... not simple as compared with GPS-only or Laser guided bombs ....

They put a Storm Shadow on an Su-24 within months, so I'm sure they could put one on a P-8 if they tried.

 

[Josh_TN]

They put a Storm Shadow on an Su-24 within months, so I'm sure they could put one on a P-8 if they tried.

That integration was likely extremely limited and almost certainly involved all of the missile setting and data inputs being entered by ground crews. And again: why would an MPA need a land attack weapon?

 

[FighterJock]

They were going to put Storm Shadow on the Nimrod MRA.4 but that got stopped when the Nimrod upgrade was cancled during the Coalition Concervative government back in 2010, so I do not think that it is not impossible to do the same for the P-8 that would give the P-8 a long range land attack capability something that the UK has been lacking.

 

[NMaude]

And again: why would an MPA need a land attack weapon?

So it can also function as a bomber.

 

[Josh_TN]

So it can also function as a bomber.

That would be a very modest capability - four missiles on a dozen aircraft already barely sufficient in number for UK ASW needs. I cannot imagine the UK spends the money on integration given its dire fiscal straights; its healthcare system is imploding.

 

[FighterJock]

I am surprised that the Storm Shadow was not put onto the P-8 when the RAF ordered them in the first place if they really wanted the P-8s as a multi-role maritime strike aircraft.

 

[Josh_TN]

I am surprised that the Storm Shadow was not put onto the P-8 when the RAF ordered them in the first place if they really wanted the P-8s as a multi-role maritime strike aircraft.

UK weapons require integration, and you have to pay the U.S. contractor. Short cut: adopt US weapons. I believe Mk54 was purchased for this reason.

 

[FighterJock]

Another missile that would have suited the mission would have been the Joint Strike Missile which would have fitted into the weapons bay without any problems.

 

[HaveVoid]

I doubt it. It has not been integrated with anything outside F-18 AFAIK and require a datalink pod. Plus I’m pretty sure it exists in rather trivial numbers; it was a rather special purpose weapon. JSOW has already been provided, though I cannot imagine there’s a lot of those either.

At a minimum it was also integrated onto the F-15K for Korea, as those birds were specifically called “SLAM Eagles” for their ability to carry the weapon. I’ve seen photos of Turkish F-16s with the weapon as well, and USN P-3s. So while not a weapon that is frequently or widely discussed, it has a decent range of launch platforms.

 

[TomS]

UK weapons require integration, and you have to pay the U.S. contractor. Short cut: adopt US weapons. I believe Mk54 was purchased for this reason.

But they have recently announced that Stingray will be integrated for all AUKUS P-8s.

 

[Josh_TN]

But they have recently announced that Stingray will be integrated for all AUKUS P-8s.

Yes, but that was not the original UK plan. Not sure if they took delivery of mo54 yet or not.

 

[TomS]

Yes, but that was not the original UK plan. Not sure if they took delivery of mo54 yet or not.

I believe they have; the contract was awarded in 2018 with CO oleation scheduled for 2022, and there are pics out there of UK P-8s dropping torpedoes.

Stingray integration looks like an AUKUS quid pro quo to me.