IS it a bird, is it a monster? No, it's a new plane that is expected to be flying over the skies of Preston and South Ribble later this month.

Residents will soon get the chance to see the huge new Nimrod MRA4 military aircraft, dubbed 'the mighty hunter', flying in the skies above their homes.

The new BAE jet, the Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack (MRA) aircraft, is set to replace the MR2, used by the Royal Navy in search and rescue exercises, in 2009.

Later this month it is expected to arrive at the areospace giant's Warton site from the company's Woodford plant, near Manchester, for months of test flights.

More than 600 staff at the Warton site have been involved in the development of the new Nimrod. A spokesman for BAE said: "The Nimrod is much larger than anything BAE have tested around here before.

"Hopefully it will not be too much of a surprise, but because of the nature of test flights we cannot say exactly when it will arrive at Warton."

The new Nimrod boasts state-of-the-art technology including the latest acoustics equipment for detecting submarines, and an electro-optical surveillance and detections system to assist in intelligence gathering.

The four Rolls Royce engines in the MRA4 will be four times quieter than the MR2, and the aircraft, with a crew of ten people, will be capable of flying 6,000 miles without refuelling.

The Nimrod MRA4's test pilot, John Turner, said: "I am greatly looking forward to piloting the aircraft on its very first flight, and then putting it through its paces in the months ahead."

Two other test Nimrods will fly to Warton later this year and next summer for tests. No decision has been taken yet on when or where to produce the aircraft.