IDEX: PAL aiming to plug ‘the jet gap’

With Boeing drawing ever closer to delivering the last of the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft now on order, other manufacturers are starting to scent a potential opportunity – not least the UAE’s own PAL Aircraft Services.

Boeing has delivered more than 155 P-8As and P-8Is, of 185 now on firm order or planned, meaning that without further orders, and with a minimum viable annual production rate of 12 aircraft, the line could close within three years.

Boeing is actively pursuing market opportunities in a number of countries, but competitors sense that there could soon be a ‘jet gap’ looming.

“Now is the time for a market filler,” Mahmoud El-Awini, PAL’s vice president of business development, said.

The Abu Dhabi-based company is looking for a launch customer for its Global 6500-based P-6 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), which bears some similarity to the Swordfish concept once offered by Saab.

The Swedish company, though, has no plans to dust off its Global-based MPA, preferring to concentrate on core products – including the GlobalEye AEW&C aircraft, the Gripen fighter, surface radar, land warfare offerings and submarines.

Though many elements of the P-6 concept remain undefined (as these will depend on customer requirements, while PAL is platform and systems agnostic), the aircraft will offer a 360° radar, an EO/IR sensor, a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), between two and six underwing stores stations, and a ‘flex bay’ able to carry torpedoes, anti-ship missiles or search-and-rescue kits.

The aircraft could accommodate between three and eight operator workstations, leveraging the company’s work on the Q400-based P-4 MPA.

A number of local air forces are known to be looking to increase their MPA, antisubmarine warfare (ASW), and maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.

Saudi Arabia has long been linked with a requirement for the P-8, for example, while other GCC nations face similar surface and sub-surface threats and recognise the need for enhanced maritime domain awareness.