2 ms·

The P8-Poseiden is based on the Boeing 737. It can carry missiles like the AGM84 Harpoon externally, and also has an internal bomb bay for torpedoes and mines.

by greedo 1y ago

The P8-Poseiden is based on the Boeing 737. It can carry missiles like the AGM84 Harpoon externally, and also has an internal bomb bay for torpedoes and mines. Converting a modern airliner design to a cruise missile carrier would be a trivial exercise for most industrial societies. Russia would struggle though...

mrguyorama 1y ago
The Poseidon is a maritime patrol aircraft, and Harpoons are significantly smaller (1600 pounds) than even modern JASSMs (2600 pounds) or Kh-15 (2600 pounds), let alone much more capable cruise missiles and weapons like the Russian Kinzhal (9500 pounds) or the Indian Brahmos (6600 pounds). >Converting a modern airliner design to a cruise missile carrier would be a trivial exercise for most industrial societies. This wasn't even true when Boeing themselves presented turning 747s into cruise missile carriers. Instead, the US has put pallets of missiles into cargo aircraft, which is a much simpler option, though most countries have very few cargo airplanes! Absolutely nothing about modern airliners translates to strategic bombers, this is true even if you just treat them as missile trucks. Indeed, the soviets went the other direction, building the Tu-104 airliner out of the Tu-16 bomber, and it was pretty bad. The differences and optimizations of the two platforms have only diverged even more since then.
- greedo 1y ago
  The Poseidon can carry the LRASM, which is a longer ranged version of the JASSM-ER, weighing in at over 2700lbs. True, it's designed as a stealthy anti-ship missile, but a land attack variant would be easy to manage. And the P-8 can carry four LRASM, so carrying capacity isn't an issue (though mount point capacity would be eventually.) Most strategic bombers today are just cruise missile carriers; TU-95, TU-160, B-52, none of these are expected to be penetrating air defenses. The only bombers that are going to venture into an IAD are all stealth. Everything else will just die (and stealth bombers will too, just in lesser numbers). https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/sea-air-space-2023/2023/04/first-view-of-lrasm-missile-aboard-a-us-navy-p-8a-poseidon/ https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/sea-air-space-2023/2023...

by greedo 1y ago

mrguyorama 1y ago

The Poseidon is a maritime patrol aircraft, and Harpoons are significantly smaller (1600 pounds) than even modern JASSMs (2600 pounds) or Kh-15 (2600 pounds), let alone much more capable cruise missiles and weapons like the Russian Kinzhal (9500 pounds) or the Indian Brahmos (6600 pounds). >Converting a modern airliner design to a cruise missile carrier would be a trivial exercise for most industrial societies. This wasn't even true when Boeing themselves presented turning 747s into cruise missile carriers. Instead, the US has put pallets of missiles into cargo aircraft, which is a much simpler option, though most countries have very few cargo airplanes! Absolutely nothing about modern airliners translates to strategic bombers, this is true even if you just treat them as missile trucks. Indeed, the soviets went the other direction, building the Tu-104 airliner out of the Tu-16 bomber, and it was pretty bad. The differences and optimizations of the two platforms have only diverged even more since then.

greedo 1y ago
The Poseidon can carry the LRASM, which is a longer ranged version of the JASSM-ER, weighing in at over 2700lbs. True, it's designed as a stealthy anti-ship missile, but a land attack variant would be easy to manage. And the P-8 can carry four LRASM, so carrying capacity isn't an issue (though mount point capacity would be eventually.) Most strategic bombers today are just cruise missile carriers; TU-95, TU-160, B-52, none of these are expected to be penetrating air defenses. The only bombers that are going to venture into an IAD are all stealth. Everything else will just die (and stealth bombers will too, just in lesser numbers). https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/sea-air-space-2023/2023/04/first-view-of-lrasm-missile-aboard-a-us-navy-p-8a-poseidon/ https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/sea-air-space-2023/2023...