Quoted: Quoted: P8 is going to be a wicked bird. What's the P3 with the lightning bolt on her? Super special thingy of some sorts? Rolling off the line right now!   i175.photobucket.com/albums/w135/Desert_AIP/mma_10.jpg i175.photobucket.com/albums/w135/Desert_AIP/mma_3.jpg

I designed some parts on that.  

In a previous job, though, so If they break, it was my replacements fault.  

ETA: Page 2 ownage!

Afghan crash latest blow to Orion fleet

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 23, 2008 11:53:44 EDT
 
An incoming Navy P-3 Orion airplane overshot the runway, crashed and went up in flames Tuesday at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, the latest mishap for the fleet of troubled maritime patrol and reconnaissance planes.

The crash caused serious structural and fire damage to the plane, part of Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 5, based at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine.

One U.S. crew member suffered a broken ankle, the only injury. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, Navy officials said.

The latest crash is the second Class-A mishap this year for the P-3. The previous mishap in July was the first in more than 10 years.

Navy officials have grown increasingly concerned about the P-3s. The Navy grounded 39 Orions in December — roughly 20 percent of the fleet — citing “structural fatigue” and fears that wing sections could break off in flight. One more P-3 was grounded in March.

In August, the Navy signed contracts for $190 million to buy 17 new outer-wing assembly kits to rehabilitate the grounded aircraft.

In September, Navy officials stepped up the timeline for replacing some of the aging P-3s. Training for the first ready-to-deploy squadron of Boeing-made P-8A Poseidons, the P-3 replacement, was moved up to early fiscal 2013, nine months earlier than the previous target date.

In the July incident, a Patrol Squadron 1 pilot lost control of a P-3 after an engine surged during a training exercise near Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.

The aircraft dropped 5,500 feet, pulling 7 Gs before its pilot regained control less than 200 feet from the ground, according to the reports. The aircraft lost 45 rivets, broke a wing spar and bent its airframe. It landed safely at Whidbey with its crew unharmed.

The Navy has 156 P-3 Orions in service.

Any turboprop plane that fires missles, and blows shit up, is ok with me.

ETA: There is one here in Dallas, stationed at Love Field.  Whats that all about?  been here for years.

Oh shit, this mishap is worse that what I thought it was.

P-3C AIP

Those in the know will know what I mean.  


Mishap Date: 10/20/2008    Severity: A FM    Time: 20:45    Evt Ser: 69846
Reference: VPU-1 202045OCT08
Acft:   P003C   Count: Y  Destroyed: N   Major Command: COMNAVAIRLANT
Custodian: VPU-1                         Fatalities: 0  Buno: 158573
Location: CLASSIFIED
Summary: AIRCRAFT DEPARTED THE RUNWAY AFTER LANDING.


The P-3C AIP is the only air platform
specifically designed to combine
persistent maritime Intelligence,
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
along with weapon delivery. With
our PCU program, Lockheed Martin
continually refreshes technology
and maintains a state-of-the-art open
architecture mission system facilitating
the integration of Commercial-Off-The-
Shelf (COTS)-based components.

The P-3C AIP is specifically designed
to perform multiple missions:
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) –
AIPʼs integrated mission system
correlates and fuses information from
the AN/USQ-78B acoustic processor
with off-board communications and
intelligence, a magnetic anomaly
detection system, the ALR-95 Electronic
Warfare Support Measures (ESM) system,
the Advanced Imaging Multispectral
Sensor (AIMS) Electro Optic/Infra-Red
(EO/IR) system and the AN/APS-137V(5)
radar system. The AIP has a state-ofthe-
art ASW detection, identification,
tracking and targeting capability
integrated with the command, control and
communications system and the ability to
deliver appropriate weapons on target.

Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) –
The AIP mission system integrates the
ALR-95 ESM (with Specific Emitter
Identification (SEI), Enhanced SEI
and Digital Instantaneous Frequency
Monitor (DIFM)) with the AIMS EO/IR
system, the AN/APS-137V(5) Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR)/Inverse SAR
system, off-board communications and
intelligence and a Tactical Common
Data Link (TCDL), thus providing an
integrated common tactical picture to
the mission system operator that allows
the operator to utilize onboard weaponry,
to stream video to forces on the
surface/ground, or to hand off real-time
information to other force elements.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/corporate/press-kit/P-3C-AIP-Brochure.pdf