BAE Systems makes new Nimrod bid

BAE Systems is to make a new bid to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide three airframes to replace the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) fleet of ageing Nimrod R.1 electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft, which are scheduled for retirement in less than two years' time due to safety concerns.

The decision by the company to step up its efforts to win the Nimrod R.1 replacement order, with airframes based on the Nimrod MRA.4 design, comes after a visit in April to its Woodford site in Cheshire by UK Defence Equipment and Support Minister Quentin Davies.

"We will be putting something forward," a BAE Systems spokesman told Jane's on 22 May. This could involve either the conversion of three development aircraft or the production of 'new' MRA.4 airframes for conversion.

The move by BAE Systems is the latest twist in the 18-month effort by the MoD to find a replacement for the three Nimrod R.1 aircraft after safety fears mounted following the loss of a Nimrod MR.2 - which uses the same airframe as the Nimrod R.1 - in an explosion over Afghanistan in 2006.