The Mighty Hunter Nears the end of its life – RAF Nimrod at RAF Kinloss
Since 1969, the RAF Nimrod has patrolled warzones such as the Falklands War and Afghanistan, and helped in peacetime emergencies such as the Piper Alpha disaster.
Its a bomber, a giant inflatable life raft dispatcher and enemy hunter, now the fleet of Nimrod MR2 aircraft will be chopped up to fit into aircraft museums, if unlucky many will have the fuselage, wing and tail sections turned into razor blades to be distributed in a supermarket near you.
The Nimrod MR2 is a Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Unit Warfare (ASUW) and Search and Rescue (SAR) unit in one, its a specialist machine that cannot be replaced with anything near capable, that is apart from its oncoming newbie, the Nimrod MRA4.
The RAF Nimrod MRA4 is an advanced Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft built around the same Comet fuselage (Body) as the mothballed Nimrod MR2, only with updated features and new technology. 18 new MRA4 aircraft are being built, and the project will be completed in 2012, after which the aircraft will be dispatched to their new homes.
The Nimrod will exit service on the last day of March 2010, it is anticipated that a large number of staff will lose their jobs at RAF Kinloss in Scotland after the departure of all Nimrods from the base, and a two year gap will certainly affect the thousands based there, since the Nimrod is central to the viability of the base.
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