Boeing 737... Bomber?

Last June the U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a $3.89 billion contract to build the new Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA). The total program acquisition value is estimated at about $20 billion for 108 aircraft.


The new Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) would replace the Navy's fleet of 223 Lockheed P-3 Orion undersea warfare and reconnaissance planes and EP-3E electronic intelligence planes, like the one forced to land on the Chinese island of Hainan on April 1, 2001, after it collided with a Chinese interceptor.

The latest news however on the new MMA 737 is that it could also fill an attack role by launching Harpoon missiles from two racks under each wing, or from a weapons bay aft of the wing. It could also carry torpedoes, mines or nuclear or conventional depth bombs.

The 737's airframe will be modified and hardened to carry 12,500 pounds of missiles, torpedoes, depth bombs and sonic buoys and a fuselage full of sophisticated sensor and computer data systems. The MMA will have the ability to refuel in flight in order to extend it's patrol time beyond it's typical 21 hours.




Sources:
Boeing Converts 737 Into Bomber: Wired News, Nov 25, 2004

MMA Completes First Major Review: Navy NewsStand

MMA Proposal to carry 12,500 pounds of missiles: Seattle Times

Wow...I'd never in a million years picture a passenger plane being used this particuilar way.Oh well,if it works then roll with it...hehe.

More info on the MMA here:

www.boeing.com...

And another picture:



Lockmart also pitched their C-130J derivative as a replacement for the Orion. There is a growing market for these AC, and some countries don't want to move to a jet platform just yet.

I think we will see a larger wing with the MMA, similar to the Aussie AWACS project (Wedgetail), for a little more range and loitering time.

all of that sounds close to the P-3, and everybody needs to remember, the P-3 started life as a passenger aircraft as well, it's not that strange, there's a good long history of passenger aircraft being converted to military applications.

Exactly, the Nimrod was the Comet, the P-3 was the L.188 Electra, the Shackleton was equally based on the Lincoln and Tudor, of course the Il-38 May was based on the Il-18 Moskva. Also a large number of commuter types and biz jets have been converted for similar applications, I believe the most advanced of those is the Bombardier Sentinel for the RAF which is based on the Gobal Express. Still the Boeing does look good, even if the USN could have had Nimrod MRA.4's if they asked nicely

Originally posted by engineer

Lockmart also pitched their C-130J derivative as a replacement for the Orion.

Lockmart?!? LOL!!!

What can I say? I'm ex Lazy-B..

Great idea from the U.S. Navy to use a modofied variant of the 737 Boeing.
It has a huge capacity for advanced sensor and EM warfare equipment as well as a sound airframe which has been used and abused over the past decade to great commercial success.
Long range strike and surveillance capabilities for this proposed variant are outstanding, and it would benefit from sleeker and more stealthy design before put into production. Also the payload is immense and dwarfs most current surveillance aircraft around the world.
Thanks for the info Intelgurl....as usual on these topics, you set the standard us mere mortals hope to one day attain

Excellent information on this here

www.spyflight.co.uk...

Boeing 737-700 MMA

Excellent idea long range and simple for the contractors to sort out. But wonder about operating a twin engine plane like the 737 at low attitude, as it were designed for cruising n (pimping) not loitering n bombing!

Brits did it with the Nimrod... probably the most capable of it's type in the world.

The Nimrod MR4 will be a excellent aircraft if BAE systems EVER finish it :-)

I like the range the internal bomb-bay and it's compatability with the Storm shadow but we will have to wait to seen if the fininsh it before mad tony cans it :-)

I jsut read about something else, the e-10

globalsecurity.org...

Looks very interesting. The USAF is becoming more dependent on these sensor aircraft because as the size of the source decreases the situational awareness must increase to use the smaller force more effectively.

Heres an update on the MRA4 with pictures, I think the new bigger intakes look goodMRA 4 flies

Did I dream it or did I read somewhere that the MRA4 and the Boeing P-7 (MMA) share a lot of systems?



[edit on 3-12-2004 by waynos]

The P-7 was the Lockheed design for a replacement for the P-3.

Of course it was, silly me, sorry for the error.

Maybe it will become the P-8 then??

Great to see you posting again Intelgurl!!

That's a pretty awesome 737... How much modding would have to be done to it, and will the bombs and whatnot be carried internally or externally?

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
Great to see you posting again Intelgurl!!

That's a pretty awesome 737... How much modding would have to be done to it, and will the bombs and whatnot be carried internally or externally?

It's good to be back - although it's only until after Christmas~

Apparently all ordinance will be carried in external pods on the wings.

Originally posted by bios
Apparently all ordinance will be carried in external pods on the wings.

There is a bomb bay aft of the wings for torps. The 737-800 BBJ normally carries auxiliary fuel here, and in the commercials this area is a luggage compartment.

I think there may be one of these MMA's over at Boeing Field, I will try to grab my digicam and run over for a look this week.



edit to add: Waynos, the designation will be P-8A (the name is yet to be decided)



[edit on 5-12-2004 by engineer]

It would be cool if it had internal bomb bays like the B-52 or B-1.I read some agreement about the B-1 not having external bomb bays,can't find it now.

As the 737 fuselage is a pressurised tube it would require major re-engineering for it to include a large internal weapons bay. With the Nimrod the problem was solved by adding a 'false bottom' or secondary fuselage to the unchanged Comet fuselage, this can be seen from the pictures of the Nimrod on this thread. This solution, while more aerodynamic than external weapons, may (and this is just a guess) have caused problems with the 737 ground clearance as it only has a short undercarriage to begin with. The obvious solution to that would be to fit a longer one but that equals more weight and more space needed to store it, external pylons is simply the easist way around it as pylons would still be required whatever else was tried.