The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has just signed a Airbus Defence and Space as agent, in co-contracting with Thales, a contract for a risk assessment of the future maritime patrol aircraft programme (PATMAR Future).
As announced by Airbus today, this 24-month contract follows the architecture and feasibility study launched at the end of 2022.
Airbus released to press and Jean-Brice Dumont, Executive Vice President, Head of Air Power at Airbus Defence and Space, said in a statement :
“The A321 MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft) has all the assets to become a true flying frigate capable of responding to the wide range of missions entrusted to the French maritime patrol,”
“Airbus offers a sovereign solution that provides the autonomy, availability and reliability required to contribute to the oceanic component of the nuclear deterrence.”
At the Euronaval 2024 defence exhibition in Paris last year, Airbus Defense and Space unveiled the A321MPA concept. The A321MPA is a maritime patrol aircraft concept based on the Airbus narrow body aircraft of A321neo family.
Eager to enter the Maritime Patrol Aircraft domain, the A321MPA concept forms the basis of its proposal to the French Navy for the Dassault Atlantique 2 (ATL2) replacement programme (PATMAR Future).
On the scope of the latest contract by the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), Airbus announced that ,
"The aim of this new definition study and risk-assessment contract is to prepare for the development and production launch of the maritime patrol aircraft programme at the end of 2026."
"This study will enable the initial results of the architecture study to be taken further, in order to refine the economic and industrial conditions for carrying out the programme, to guide the technical choices of the systems to be integrated on the aircraft, and to carry out the first wind-tunnel tests."
Airbus has been developing the A321MPA concept under an 18-month study contract awarded by the French DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement) defence procurement agency in early 2023. Airbus received one of two contracts, with the other being given to Dassault Aviation to study an MPA/ASW derivative of its Falcon X business jet.
France had launched a programme on 23 October 2020A to replace the Marine Nationale’s aging turboprop-powered Dassault Atlantique 2s, while the DGA launched feasibility studies for the Maritime Airborne Warfare System (MAWS) requirement along with Germany.
Though most of the Navy’s Atlantique 2 aircraft have been modernised with an AESA-equipped Searchmaster radar, along with a new Wescam MX-20D EO turret, and received new consoles and systems, the fleet age will reach between 40 to 45 years by year 2035, needing a replacement.
Airbus Defense and Space offered a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) version of the A320neo, which it had soft-launched in February 2018, alongside Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), and Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) variants.
The A321 MPA is a militarised version of the Airbus A321XLR, designed to meet all the operational requirements of the French Navy, mainly in anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, from low to high intensity, as well as intelligence gathering.
The aim is to have a new aircraft to replace the fleet of Atlantique 2 operated by the French Navy from the Lann-Bihoué (France) naval air base by the 2030-2040 timeframe.
The A321 MPA will have a long-range and high-manoeuvrability capability, including at low altitude. The aircraft will be equipped with a full range of sensors specific to maritime patrol aircraft, to which Thales is a major contributor: latest-generation radar with active antennas; an acoustic system using passive and active sonar buoys; electronic and electro-optical warfare systems; magnetic anomaly detection (MAD), and self-protection systems.
However, the Franco-German MAWS programme was stalled in 2021, when Germany ordered five Boeing P-8A Poseidons in an ungent mode, citing Orion performance and reliability problems as a reason.
Later, three more P-8A aircraft were ordered following the Zeitenwende speech to the Bundestag by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on 27 February 2022.
Following the collapse of the MAWS programme, France launched a new national competition in February 2023. The aim was to replace the Atlantique 2 by 2035.
On Tenders, Airbus Defence and Space offered the A320Neo MPA before switching to the A321MPA,while Dassault Aviation offered an MPA version of its new Falcon 10X, which Dassault claim to be the “heir to 50 years of Patmar and Surmar operations.”
Airbus is ambitious and hopeful that the A321MPA could become a competitor to the P-8A Poseidon, which has taken much of the long-range maritime patrol aircraft market in recent years, though many believe that there is little remaining market for an aircraft in this class.
Todays' Airbus announcement read as,
"The extraordinary success of the A320 Family - the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft with more than 10,000 aircraft in service and more than 300 million flight hours - ensures that the A321 MPA has long proven availability, reliability and low maintenance costs."
When we talk about the Airbus's latest narrow body variant, A321LRX has an edge over the Boeing B737-800ERX variant on which the P-8A Poseidon is based. The passenger version of the A321XLR has a range of 4,700 nm, which will be a huge plus point for the MPA variant on offer by Airbus.
It's not done yet, many are of opinion that the A321MPA may get a tough competition from the smaller, cheaper but longer range Falcon 10X, though the A321 could bring more volume for the crew, weapons and sonobuoys.
The new A321MPA will build on Airbus’ experience building the A330 MRTT tanker. The company has deliberately minimised modifications in order to keep costs low. Airbus said,
"Airbus Defence and Space has long experience in converting commercial aircraft into military aircraft, culminating in the success of the A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) , which has more than 90% of the world market (excluding the United States)."
On the modification saide, the narrow body aircraft is to be fitted with large observation windows behind the cockpit, communications and datalink antennas, and an underfuselage EO turret.
A rear weapons bay can be seen as the main structural modification in a new ventral compartment with ‘sliding doors’ located behind the wing. With the introduction of the A321XLR fuselage, payload bay is expected to be significantly larger than would have been possible on the shorter A320.
The payload part, unlike the A320neo MPA, the A321MPA will not need underwing weapons bays, capable of carrying all of its weapons and stores internally. The proposed aircraft aircraft will have a Thales sensor suite, and is fitted with a tail-mounted magnetic anomaly detector (MAD).
Already present belly fairings on the forward section of the fuselage could house electronic support measures equipment, or those spaces may get associated with the new conformal radar arrays which Airbus say are distributed “around the aircraft”. On its expertise in the field, Airbus said in a a statement,
"The company also has extensive expertise in the integration of sensors and mission systems on the P3, C295 and CN235 aircraft, with more than 170 aircraft in service in various maritime patrol and surveillance configurations."
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