EADS reveals A319 MPA
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"EADS plans to develop a new variant of the Airbus A319/A320 to compete with the Boeing P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) on offer to India.
Other proposals received by India include an export variant of the US NavyÂ’s P-8A, dubbed the P-8I, from Boeing; a new solution based on the Dassault Falcon 900 from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI); an improved version of the Il-38 from Ilyushin, and a refurbished P-3 from Lockheed Martin."
By Brendan Sobie in Singapore.
http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/05/30/Navigation/177/206931/EADS+proposes+maritime+variant+of+Airbus+A319+with+bomb+bay+doors+for.html
hmm interesting.. -
I understand that our Fokker 50 Mk2S MPA can be armed with Harpoon missiles but can torpedoes be also be deployed from them? If not this new MPA might just suit our future maritime patrol needs due to the Eye in the sky programme.
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Actually, our airspace oso not say quite big. I think its too big a plane for us. Jet engines summore.. If our AWACS aircraft in future transits into a jet plane, den perhaps MPA got chance oso.Originally posted by tankee1981:I understand that our Fokker 50 Mk2S MPA can be armed with Harpoon missiles but can torpedoes be also be deployed from them? If not this new MPA might just suit our future maritime patrol needs due to the Eye in the sky programme. 
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Originally posted by Pitot
Our RSAF aircraft are never really restricted by the lack of Singapore's airspace. This can be seen from the fact that our planes train in the South China Sea and patrol in the Straits of Malacca. So airspace is not really an issue here.
Actually, our airspace oso not say quite big. I think its too big a plane for us. Jet engines summore.. If our AWACS aircraft in future transits into a jet plane, den perhaps MPA got chance oso.
I agree with you that it may be too big for us. But in the future we may need to patrol a larger area as compared to what we are doing now due to the greater demand for aerial maritime patrol to prevent terrorism and piracy. Our replacement for the E-2C is strongly rumoured to be a Gulstream 5 equipped with Phalcon. So the prospect of having a larger jet powered MPA is not too small.