February 7, 2008: Britain is borrowing
two U.S. Air Force electronic monitoring aircraft (C-135 Rivet Joint) to fill
in because of shortages. The aircraft will have joint British and American
crews, but will be painted in Royal Air Force colors. The shortage was created
when Britain sharply reduced the use of its Nimrod maritime reconnaissance
aircraft, which are also used for electronic monitoring. The cause has been age
related problems (fuel leaks and air circulation problems). The Nimrod is a
1960s design that uses the airframe of the 1950s era Comet airliner. There has
been work on a replacement aircraft, but money shortages, and disagreements
over specifications, have delayed this.
A Nimrod crashed in Afghanistan in 2006
because of fuel leak problems, and the remaining 18 Nimrods are considered too
old to be fixed by anything short of a complete rebuild. That would take too
long, and Britain needs the electronic monitoring aircraft now. So they are
leasing two from the United States. Royal Air Force personnel (commanders and
Nimrod air crews) are not happy with this situations, having been put off (by
the politicians) for decades when they complained of the aging Nimrods.
