I asked Lockheed Martin yesterday for a photo of the re-winged P-3B that has been delivered to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. That's a significant event in itself. The agency's 16 P-3s were grounded for two years after the US Navy discovered a corrosion crisis across the fleet. But the photo struck me for another reason entirely.
Gone was the dome search radar on top of the fuselage. In its place is what briefly looked to me like a miniature version of the phased-array "tophat" antenna that sits atop the 737 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. After a few more gulps of coffee and some furious Google browsing, I realized that it's just the radar structure without the dome on top. That's something you don't see everyday, so I'm posting here in case anybody else gets confused!
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