United States Navy P3c Orion Home Base NAS Jacksonville Florida. SCO 6152
Originally designed as a land-based, long-range, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft, the P-3C's mission has evolved in the late 1990s and early 21st century to include surveillance of the battlespace, either at sea or over land. Its long range and long loiter time have proved invaluable assets during Operation Iraqi Freedom as it can view the battlespace and instantaneously provide that information to ground troops, especially Marines. The P-3 Orion served as the replacement for the postwar era P-2 Neptune and P-5 Marlin. The Orion is powered by four Allison T56 turboprops which give it a speed comparable to fast propeller powered fighters, or even slow turbofan jets such as the A-10 Thunderbolt II or the S-3 Viking. Many other countries have seen the value of this platform design and have developed similar patrol aircraft based on this model, with the Soviets adapting their own counterpart to the Orion, the Ilyushin Il-38. The P-3 also competes with the British Hawker Siddeley Nimrod adaptation of the de Havilland Comet and the French Breguet Atlantique. The first Orion prototype was a converted Lockheed first production version, designated P3V-1, first flew 15 April 1961. Initial squadron deliveries to Patrol Squadron EIGHT (VP-8) and Patrol Squadron FORTY FOUR (VP-44) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland began in August 1962. On 18 September 1962, the military transitioned to a unified designation system for all services, redesignating the aircraft as the P-3A. Paint schemes have changed from an early 1960s blue and white scheme, to a mid-1960s white and gray, to a mid-1990s flat finish low visibility gray with fewer and smaller subdued markings. In the early 2000s, the P-3C fleet transitioned to a gloss gray finish with the original full-size color markings. However, large size Bureau Numbers on the vertical stabilizer and squadron designations on the fuselage remained omitted.
Size: 5549px × 3781px
Location: RAF Kinloss Morayshire Grampian Region Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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