Page 99 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

The agreements now in place have enabled the RAF to allocate personnel to support operations involving MPA
assets flown by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA, including during last year's NATO-led operation
to protect Libyan civilians.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/uk-reveals-scope-of-seedcorn-maritime-patrol-proje-368936/

Canada has played a key role in working with the RAF to support project Seedcorn. According to Lt. General
Hood: “We have been flying two members of the RAF crews on our ASW aircraft in the interim between the
sunset of Nimrod and the sunrise of the P-8. We have also filled the gap left by the sun setting of Nimrod with
our own ASW assets. We have done so by operating from either RAF Lossiemouth or Keflavik to help manage
the GIUK gap.”

http://www.sldinfo.com/the-canadian-role-in-asw-an-interview-with-lt-general-michael-hood/
In our visit to 14th Wing at Greenwood, we had a chance to discuss as well with Lt. Col. Bruno Baker, the
current Deputy Wing Commander, the Canadian role in project Seedcorn.

He recently left his position as the Commanding Officer of 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron.

RAF officers have been regular contributors to the Greenwood mission during the seed-corn program, and
indeed some of these participants have even become residents of Canada.

“The systems onboard the Aurora and our modernization approach fitted quite well with the new workflow
process which is on the P-8.

"We have already built into our Block 3 upgrades a new workflow process and increased the data available
to the cockpit, which is reshaping our workflow possibly similar to the P-8.

Earlier last year we had a chance to discuss the seed-corn program with RAF officers at RAF Lossiemouth, the
base chosen to operate the new P-8s. In a piece published on November 17, 2016, we provided a look at
the UK perspective.

On a recent visit to Norway, the UK Minister of Defence signed a new agreement with Norway to
shape enhanced cooperation on maritime patrol operations. This was done in part due to the coming of the P-8 to
the United Kingdom.

In the story on the UK MoD website it was noted:

Work on the UK’s MPA programme is progressing well, including the investment on infrastructure in Lossiemouth
in Scotland, where the planes will be based.

Former armed forces personnel who previously served on UK Nimrod are also re-joining the RAF to help operate
the future P-8s.

12 have recently re-joined and more will re-join in the future

The UK MoD retired the Nimrod in 2011; recently, the UK government announced that the P-8 was coming into
the force in 2019.

The Nimrod MK2 MPA was taken out of service in 2010 with the UK accepting the capability gap until the MRA4
came into service.

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