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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0653.PDF
periscopes and snorkels. Flying low is no longer deemed safe in the current threat environment and also is a major cause of airframe fatigue, says Hewitt. Critical delivery Speed of delivery for the MMA has also emerged as a critical factor in the navy's decision-making. An analysis last year revealed the P-3 fleet was in crisis, deterio rating at a much faster rate than the navy had imagined. Nearly 80 P-3s will have to be retired over the next two years, leaving a critical shortfall of patrol aircraft until the MMA fleet begins to enter service in 2010. Critics note that the sudden discovery has conveniently bolstered the navy's case for funding the MMA programme, and the findings helped to sway navy leaders to finally approve the programme's go-ahead in June 2003. That urgency is also helping to drive the navy's demand for a low-risk development and integration path. Over three decades, the P-3's original mission to hunt for submarines and surface vessels has expanded into a variety of tasks, such as overland strike. P-3Cs are now oper ating over certain parts of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as performing counter-nar cotics reconnaissance in Colombia. In the campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, P-3Cs were used to launch air strikes using Boeing AGM-84H SLAM-ER missiles against Serbian targets. But navy officials believe a maritime air craft is ill-equipped for most such roles, and is turning many of these missions over to the planned Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned air vehicle and more manoeuvrable strike aircraft. The LOCKHEED MARTIN ORION 21 OVERVIEW BOEING 737 MMA OVERVIEW EUGHT 1 Search radar 2 Life rafts 3 Crew rest area 4 Observer station 5 Mission tactical workstations (5) 7 Wing pylons 8 Weapons bay 9 Galley 10 Magnetic anomaly detector 11 Inmarsat antenna 6 CFM56-5B with 180kVA generator 12 Mission planning area service plans to devote the MMA force to anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare and, for now, intends to push back against proposals to broaden its operational profile. Navy officials project a need for 108-112 MMAs, or less than half of the existing P-3 Orion fleet. After 24 aircraft were retired last year, due to growing aircraft fatigue issues, the navy is operating 227 P-3s, some of which have surpassed 20,000 flight hours - twice their projected lifespan. But the numbers gap does not perturb the navy. It believes that switching to a modern, reliable airframe will eliminate the 13 Double integral equipment cabinet 14 Sonobuoy storage 15 Automated rotary launchers 16 Modular equipment cabinets 17 Power distribution racks 18 In-flight refuelling receptacle Bleed-air driven ECS Digital flight station In-flight refuelling receptacle NP2000 propeller Growth area Common modular workstations Reduced-size load centre 8 Rest area 9 Sonobuoys 10 Common modular rack 11 OBIGGS 12 PW150/MMA engine 13 Three 120kVA generators 14 Internal bomb bay FLIGHT need for about one-third of the P-3 fleet. The P-3's notoriously low reliability has forced the service to operate 80 redundant airframes to sustain sortie generation rates, and the navy now is striking the excess mar gin from the MMA order. Projecting a roughly 40% improvement in fleet reliabil ity, the service plans to downsize squadrons from nine aircraft to eight, or seven, and to eliminate two special mission squadrons. Mission control Training will be affected by the cutbacks. About half of the 25-aircraft Fleet Reserve Squadron, used primarily for training flights, is expected to be cut. The navy has determined that training cycles were a primary cause in the P-3 fleet's deteriora tion and it wants to avoid making the same mistake with MMA. The next generation of pilots will instead spend more time in the simulator, and a robust training package is considered a key part of the programme. Improved reliability metrics alone, how ever, does not make up for the number of P-3s lost after the conversion to the smaller MMA fleet. The navy maintains a require ment for 150 patrol aircraft, which will probably be filled by about 50 UAVs to be purchased under the still-undefined BAMS programme, which is focused on littoral and overland patrol missions. Rejecting a sole-source order for the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, the navy is to open a competitive procure ment for BAMS in June that is expected to include the Global Hawk and a modified Predator B, the Mariner, jointly offered by General Atomics and Lockheed Martin. • 38 11-17 MAY 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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