Lockheed P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. It is based on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner by Lockheed; it is easily distinguished from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD" boom, used for the magnetic anomaly detection of submarines.
Over the years, the P-3 has seen numerous design developments, most notably in its electronics packages. Numerous navies and air forces around the world continue to use the type primarily for maritime patrol, reconnaissance, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. A total of 757 P-3s have been built. In 2012, it joined the handful of military aircraft including the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, and Lockheed C-130 Hercules that the United States military has been using for more than 50 years. In the twenty-first century, the turbofan-powered Boeing P-8 Poseidon began to supplement, and will eventually replace, the U.S. Navy's P-3s.
Development
Origins
In August 1957, the U.S. Navy called for proposals for replacement of the piston-engined Lockheed P2V Neptune and Martin P5M Marlin with a more advanced aircraft to conduct maritime patrol and antisubmarine warfare. Modifying an existing aircraft should save on cost and to allow rapid introduction into the fleet. Lockheed suggested a military version of its L-188 Electra, then still in development and yet to fly. In April 1958, Lockheed won the competition and was awarded an initial research-and-development contract in May.Lockheed modified the prototype YP3V-1/YP-3A, Bureau Number 148276 from the third Electra airframe c/n 1003. The first flight of the aircraft's aerodynamic prototype, originally designated YP3V-1, took place on 19 August 1958. While based on the same design philosophy as the Electra, the aircraft differed structurally; it had less fuselage forward of the wings with an opening bomb bay, and a more pointed nose radome, a distinctive tail "stinger" for detection of submarines by MAD, wing hardpoints, and other internal, external, and airframe-production technique enhancements.
The Orion has four Allison T56 turboprops, which give it a top speed of comparable to the fastest propeller fighters, or even to slow high-bypass turbofan jets such as the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II or the Lockheed S-3 Viking. Similar patrol aircraft include the Soviet Ilyushin Il-38, the French Breguet Atlantique and the British jet-powered Hawker Siddeley Nimrod.
The first production version, designated P3V-1, was launched on 15 April 1961. Initial squadron deliveries to Patrol Squadron Eight and Patrol Squadron Forty-Four at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, began in August 1962. On 18 September 1962, the U.S. military transitioned to a unified designation system for all services, with the aircraft being renamed the P-3 Orion. Paint schemes have changed from early 1960s, gloss seaplane gray and white to mid-1960s/1970s/1980s/early 1990s gloss white and gray, to mid-1990s flat-finish low-visibility gray with fewer and smaller markings. In the early 2000s, the paint scheme changed to its current overall gloss gray finish with the original full-sized color markings. However, large-sized BuNos on the vertical stabilizer and squadron designations on the fuselage remained largely omitted.
Further developments
In 1963, the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Naval Weapons contracted Univac Defense Systems Division of Sperry Rand to engineer, build, and test a digital computer to interface with the many sensors and newly developing display units of the P-3 Orion. Project A-NEW was the engineering system, which after several early trials, produced the engineering prototype, the CP-823/U, UNIVAC 1830, Serial A-1, A-NEW MOD3 Computing System. Univac delivered the CP-823/U to the Naval Air Development Center at Johnsville, Pennsylvania, in 1965; this directly led to the production computers later equipped on the P-3C.Three civilian Electras were lost in fatal accidents between February 1959 and March 1960. Following the third crash, the FAA restricted the maximum speed of Electras pending determination of the causes. After an extensive investigation, two of the crashes were identified as due to insufficiently strong engine mounts, unable to damp a whirling motion that could affect the outboard engines. When the oscillation was transmitted to the wings, a severe vertical vibration escalated, tearing off the wings. The company implemented a costly modification program, labelled the Lockheed Electra Achievement Program, which strengthened the engine mounts and the wing structures supporting the mounts, and replaced some wing skins with thicker material. At its own expense, Lockheed modified all surviving Electras of the 145 built at that time, the process taking 20 days for each aircraft. These changes were incorporated into subsequent aircraft as they were built.
The Electra's sales were limited as Lockheed's technical fix did not completely erase the aircraft's poor reputation in an era in which turboprop-powered aircraft were being replaced by faster jets. In military roles that valued fuel efficiency more than speed, the Orion remained in service for over 50 years after its 1962 introduction. Although surpassed in production longevity by the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, 734 P-3s were produced through 1990. Lockheed Martin opened a new P-3 wing production-line in 2008 as part of its Service Life Extension Program for delivery in 2010. A complete ASLEP replaces the outer wings, center-wing lower section, and horizontal stabilizers with newly built parts.
In the 1990s, the U.S. Navy attempted to procure a successor aircraft to the P-3, and selected the improved P-7 over a naval-specific variant of the twin turbofan-powered Boeing 757, but this program was subsequently cancelled. In a second program to select a replacement, the advanced Lockheed Martin Orion 21, another P-3-derived aircraft, lost out to the Boeing P-8 Poseidon, a Boeing 737 variant, which entered service in 2013.
Design
The P-3 has an internal bomb bay under the front fuselage, which can house conventional Mark 50 torpedoes or Mark 46 torpedoes and/or special weapons. Additional underwing stations, or pylons, can carry other armament configurations, including the AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-84E SLAM, AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, AGM-65 Maverick, Zuni rockets, and various other sea mines, missiles, and gravity bombs. The aircraft also had the capability to carry the AGM-12 Bullpup guided missile until that weapon was withdrawn from service.The P-3 is equipped with a MAD in the extended tail. This instrument is able to detect the magnetic anomaly of a submarine in the Earth's magnetic field. The limited range of this instrument requires the aircraft to be near the submarine at low altitude. Because of this, it is primarily used for pinpointing the location of a submarine immediately prior to a torpedo or depth bomb attack. Due to the sensitivity of the detector, electromagnetic noise can interfere with it, so the detector is placed in P-3's fiberglass tail stinger, far from other electronics and ferrous metals on the aircraft.
Crew complement
The crew complement varies depending on the role being flown, the variant being operated, and the country that is operating the type. In U.S. Navy service, the normal crew complement was 12 until it was reduced to its current complement of 11 in the early 2000s when the in-flight ordnanceman position was eliminated as a cost-savings measure and the ORD duties assumed by the in-flight technician. Data for U.S. Navy P-3C only.Officers:
- three Naval Aviators
- *Patrol Plane Commander
- *Patrol Plane 2nd Pilot
- *Patrol Plane 3rd Pilot
- two Naval Flight Officers
- *Patrol Plane Tactical Coordinator
- *Patrol Plane Navigator/Communicator
Enlisted aircrew:
- two enlisted Aircrew Flight Engineers
- three enlisted Sensor Operators
- *Radar/MAD/EWO
- *two Acoustic
- one enlisted In-Flight Technician
- one enlisted Aviation Ordnanceman
Engine loiter shutdown
Once on station, one engine is often shut down to conserve fuel and extend the time aloft and/or range when at low level. It is the primary candidate for loiter shutdown because it has no generator. Eliminating the exhaust from engine 1 also improves visibility from the aft observer station on the left side of the aircraft.On occasion, both outboard engines can be shut down, weight, weather, and fuel permitting. Long, deep-water, coastal, or border-patrol missions can last over 10 hours and may include extra crew. The record time aloft for a P-3 is 21.5 hours, undertaken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force's No. 5 Squadron in 1972.
Operational history
United States
Developed during the Cold War, the P-3's primary mission was to localize Soviet Navy ballistic missile and fast attack submarines detected by undersea surveillance systems and eliminate them in the event of full-scale war. At its height, the U.S. Navy's P-3 community consisted of twenty-four active duty "Fleet" patrol squadrons home based at air stations in the states of Florida and Hawaii as well as bases which formerly had P-3 operations in Maryland, Maine, and California.There were also thirteen Naval Reserve patrol squadrons identical to their active duty "Fleet" counterparts, said Reserve "Fleet" squadrons being based in Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, Illinois, Tennessee, Louisiana, California and Washington. Two Fleet Replacement Squadrons, also called "RAG" squadrons were located in California and Florida. The since-deactivated VP-31 in California provided P-3 training for the Pacific Fleet, while VP-30 in Florida performed the task for the Atlantic Fleet. These squadrons were also augmented by a test and evaluation squadron in Maryland, two additional test and evaluation units that were part of an air development center in Pennsylvania and a test center in California, an oceanographic development squadron in Maryland, and two active duty "special projects" units in Maine and Hawaii, the latter being slightly smaller than a typical squadron.
In fiscal year 1995, the U.S. Navy planned to reduce active-duty patrol squadrons from sixteen to thirteen—seven on the East Coast, six on the West. The patrol squadrons planned to survive were VP-8, 10, 11, and 26 at NAS Brunswick, Maine, and VP-5, 16, and 45 at NAS Jacksonville, Florida. The Pacific squadrons that were to be retained were VP-1, 4, 9, and 47 at Barbers' Point, Hawaii, and 40 and VP-46 at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. Thus Patrol Squadrons 17, 23, 24, and 49 were to be disestablished, and the remaining units were to operate nine aircraft instead of eight, augmented by VP-30 and the nine-at-the-time USNR P-3 squadrons.
Reconnaissance missions in international waters led to occasions where Soviet fighters would "bump" a P-3, either operated by the U.S. Navy or other operators such as the Royal Norwegian Air Force. On 1 April 2001, a midair collision between a United States Navy EP-3E ARIES II signals surveillance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II jet fighter-interceptor resulted in an international dispute between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China.
More than 40 P-3 variants have demonstrated the type's rugged reliability, commonly flying 12-hour plus missions over water. Versions were developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for research and hurricane hunting/hurricane wall busting, for the U.S. Customs Service for drug interdiction and aerial surveillance mission with a rotodome adapted from the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye or an AN/APG-66 radar adapted from the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and for NASA for research and development.
The U.S. Navy remains the largest P-3 operator, currently distributed between a single fleet replacement patrol squadron in Florida, 12 active duty patrol squadrons distributed between bases in Florida, Washington and Hawaii, two Navy Reserve patrol squadrons in Florida and Washington, one active duty special projects patrol squadron in Hawaii, and two active duty test and evaluation squadrons. One additional active duty fleet reconnaissance squadron operates the EP-3 Aries signals intelligence variant at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington.
In January 2011, the U.S. Navy revealed that P-3s have been used to hunt down "third generation" narco-submarines. This is significant because as recently as July 2009, fully submersible submarines have been used in smuggling operations. As of November 2013, the US Navy began phasing out the P-3 in favor of the newer and more advanced Boeing P-8 Poseidon.
In May 2020, Patrol Squadron 40 completed the transition to the P-8, marking the retirement of the P-3C from U.S. Navy active duty service. The last of the active-duty P-3Cs, aircraft 162776, was also delivered to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Two Navy Reserve squadrons, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 and One Active duty Squadron continued to fly the P-3C. In February 2025 VQ-1 retired their final EP-3E Aries II and P-3C, leaving VX-30 and VXS-1 as the only squadrons operating the P-3 in U.S. Navy service.