BAE Systems Nimrod MRA.4

BAE Systems · United Kingdom · first flew 2004 · airliner

The Nimrod MRA.4 was a four-engine maritime patrol and attack aircraft, an extensively rebuilt derivative of the Nimrod MR2 which itself descended from the de Havilland Comet airliner.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, swept
E — Engines	4 × turbofan, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	Deep double-bubble fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Deep double-bubble fuselage
Engines buried in wing roots
Slender rear MAD boom

Recognisable by the deep double-bubble Comet-heritage fuselage, four turbofans buried in pairs in the wing roots rather than podded, and the slender magnetic anomaly detector boom extending aft from the tail.

Specifications

The BAE Systems Nimrod MRA.4 has a length of 38.63 m (127 ft).
It has a wingspan of 38.7 m (127 ft).
Its maximum speed is 919 km/h (571 mph).
Typical crew: 10.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 2004, the MRA.4 fitted an all-new wing, Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofans and a modern mission system to refurbished Nimrod fuselages. The programme suffered severe cost overruns and delays, and it was cancelled in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review before entering service.

Variants

The MRA.4 was the sole planned production standard; it evolved from earlier MR1 and MR2 maritime patrol Nimrods and the R1 electronic intelligence variant.

Where you'll see it

Intended to be the RAF's long-range maritime patrol backbone, the MRA.4 was scrapped without operational service, and the resulting UK capability gap was later filled by the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 4,893 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.