Navy P3 Aircraft - The P-3 MLU Program is the answer to maintaining effectiveness and reliability in a critical global economy. It consists of a life extension kit replacing the aircraft outer wings, center wing lower section and horizontal stabilizer with new production components.
MLU removes all current P-3 airframe flight restrictions and provides 15,000 additional flight hours, greatly enhancing capability leveraged with cost-effectiveness. The design replaces all fatigue-life-limiting structures on the aircraft with enhanced-design components and new improved corrosion-resistant materials that will greatly reduce the cost of ownership over the aircraft's remaining service life.
Navy P3 Aircraft
This is an affordable solution that Lockheed Martin has proven can be installed in 11 months. The 11 aircraft in the Navy's inventory are based on the Orion P-3 airframe and provide fleet and theater commanders worldwide with near real-time tactical SIGINT.
With sensitive receivers and high-gain dish antennas, the EP-3E exploits a wide range of electronic emissions from deep within targeted territory. Wing span: 100 feet Length: 117 feet Height: 34 feet Weight: maximum takeoff: 142,000 pounds
Speed: maximum: 473 mph cruise: 377 mph Ceiling: 28,300 feet Range: maximum mission radius: 2,380 nautical miles 3 hours on station at 1,500 feet: 1,346 nautical miles Power plant: four Allison T56-A-14 turboprop engines Crew: 10
Contractor: Lockheed Much of the EP-3's mission is secret and is conducted in high threat areas where long range standoff is required. Most recently, a Navy EP-3 crashed into a Chinese navy J-8 fighter and was forced down into Chinese territory.
The crew was eventually released but the plane and its sensitive electronic surveillance systems were picked apart by the Chinese government before the plane was returned in pieces. Designed to replace the P-2 Neptune, Lockheed's P-3 Orion is a high-performance anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft with extensive detection gear and equipped to carry torpedoes, depth bombs, mines or nuclear weapons.
Fifty years after its introduction, the P-3 continues to serve with the U.S. Navy and numerous foreign armed forces. The Museum's aircraft served initially with Patrol Squadron (VP) 46, flying coastal surveillance of Vietnam as part of Operation Market Time.
Uniquely suited as the world's premier multi-mission maritime long-endurance aircraft, the P-3 performs air, surface and subsurface patrol and reconnaissance tasks over extended periods and far from support facilities. Recently, the P-3 provided support for Operation Unified Assistance in Southeast Asia, Hurricane Katrina, Operation Atalanta in the Gulf of Aden, and the BP Horizon oil rig disaster in the U.S.
No other aircraft is better suited for these missions, and Lockheed Martin's P-3 Mid-Life Upgrade Program will help ensure the P-3 is mission ready for decades to come. During the 1990s twelve P-3Cs were converted to EP3-E ARIES II to replace older versions of the aircraft.
The original ARIES I aircraft were converted in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The last EP-3E ARIES II aircraft was delivered in 1997. EP-3Es have been heavily engaged in reconnaissance in support of NATO forces in Bosnia, joint forces in Korea and in Operation Southern Watch, Northern Watch, and Allied Force.
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