BAe/GEC Marconi Nimrod AEW 3

The program to give RAF an aircraft for Airborne Early Warning, as a replacement for Avro Shackleton AEW , began in the mid 1970's from the British Aerospace/GEC Marconi who planned the Nimrod AEW 3 program. The radar scanners, until then mounted in either an underbelly radome or mounted on a rotodome above the fuselage as on the E-2 Hawkeye and the E-3 Sentry, was fitted in two big boulges in the nose and in the tail of the aircraft. The choosen radars were the The GEC Marconi Argus System with two mechanical scanners to give 360 degree coverage of air and surface targets. The aircraft were modified structurally by BAe from redundant maritime versions and the airframes flew successfully. However the JTU work showed up serious problems with the radar system software and the coordination of the two scanners and their feeds, amongst other things.
Despite intense pressure from almost all quarters the JTU were finally able to convince the MOD that the aircraft was unfit for purpose and it was cancelled.
After the political decision to axe the program the Nimrods were scrapped as they were judged to be too modified to ever be reverted to MR or R versions.
For more information on what went wrong with the project please click here for excerpts taken from a paper written by one of the senior managers involved.

In 1988 a Boeing proposal was accepted for the supply of 7 E-3D Sentry aircraft after over One Billion Pounds had been spent on the Nimrod's development. The Sentry entered RAF service in 1991, providing the RAF with a desperately needed modern AEW capability. GEC Marconi has continued development of the ARGUS System and concepts for mounting it on a C-130 have been seen. Most recently the Chinese Air Force has signed agreements with GEC Marconi for a development of Argus to provide an AEW Capability, most probably using IL-76 Candid transport aircraft.

For the a slideshow of the newest version of Nimrod, click here.

What does 'Nimrod' mean ? maybe this or .... this ?

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