Airbus confirms that the A321 MPa will be the successor to the Atlantic Maritime Patrol aircraft

Airbus confirms that the A321 MPa will be the successor to the Atlantic Maritime Patrol aircraft


Curiously, it was not the Ministry of the Armed Forces that revealed the name of the industrialist he retained to prepare for the succession of the Atlantic Maritime Patrol Plane 2.

Indeed, this February 4, Airbus confirmed that its solution, based on the A321xlr airliner, had been chosen by the Directorate General of Armament [DGA]at the expense of that proposed by Dassault Aviation, which bet on a Patmar version of its Falcon 10x.

This choice had already been mentioned during the last edition of the Euronaval show last November. It had then been explained that the French Navy wanted to have a new maritime patrol plane having a great capacity to carry ammunition, such as the future FMAN anti -navire missile developed by MBDA and likely to take a second crew for the missions of long duration.

For the moment, the DGA has notified Thales to Airbus and Thales only a new study contract to develop a Patmar version of the A321XLR. Lasting twenty-four months, he took over from the architecture and feasibility study that was launched in December 2022.

“The A321 MPa project [Maritime Patrol Aircraft] has all the assets to become a real flying frigate capable of responding to the great diversity of the missions entrusted to the
Maritime patrol, “said Jean-Brice Dumont, director of the” Air Power “division of Airbus Defense & Space. And to add that this is a “sovereign solution” offering “the autonomy, availability and reliability required in particular to contribute to the oceanic component of nuclear deterrence”.

This new contract aims to prepare the development and realization of the successor of the Atlantic 2 by the end of 2026. It will allow “to deepen the first results of the architecture study, in order to refine the economic conditions and Industrial program execution, guiding the technical choices of systems to be integrated on the plane, and carrying out the first blower tests, ”explains Airbus.

In addition to the anti-submarine control, essential to “whiten” approaches to the base of the Longue Island, which houses nuclear submarines [SNLE]the A321 MPA will have to carry out anti -vavire and information collection missions. If it will not be a “Swiss knife” as the Atlantic 2 can be, this plane will have a set of latest generation sensors provided by Thales [radar à antennes actives, boule optronique, détecteur d’anomalies magnétiques, systèmes acoustiques, moyens de guerre électronique, etc.]

The A321 MPa “must also take on communication means including satellites, as well as the armaments necessary for the anti-submarine and anti-vaire control, in particular
Boarding torpedoes and the future antinavire missile, “said Airbus precisely, for whom its” large hold and open architecture of its mission system “will give it” great ability to evolve throughout its cycle of life to face the emergence of new threats ”.

The anti-submarine fight with its constraints, Airbus ensures that the A321 MPa will have great maneuverability, including at low altitude.

However, making an airliner a device dedicated to the maritime patrol will not be an easy task. The transformation of the Boeing B737 into P-8A Poseidon had required an investment of more than $ 5 billion to cover development costs.

A priori, the French Navy intends to command ten A321 MPa, three of which must have been put into service by 2035. Pending, and according to the secrets of its chief of staff, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, Atlantic 2 remains “one of the best in the world for the maritime patrol, to the point that the Americans ask us to send them […] In the North Atlantic to help them track down the Russian submarines ”.



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