Shephard: Breathing New Life into Orions
By Grant Turnbull in Santiago
Lacking the funds to purchase new and bespoke maritime patrol aircraft, two Latin American militaries are looking to extend the life of their current fleet of legacy Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion aircraft.
Chile and Brazil have operated the sub-hunting aircraft for a number of years now and, not wanting to lose the vital capability offered by the P-3, are in the process of upgrading.
The Chilean Navy has already contracted Lockheed Martin to upgrade its fleet of two P-3s, as part of a mid-life upgrade (MLU) package, which involves refitting the aircraft with a new centre wing section and outer wings, as well as new horizontal stabilisers.
Due to the adverse conditions they fly in and its operational flying characteristics, the P-3 Orion is prone to corrosion and fatigue, particularly on the areas close to where the wing meets the fuselage.
Lockheed Martin says after an MLU and the addition of corrosive-resistant materials, a P-3 Orion is five times more resistant to corrosion and can extend the aircraft life by 15,000 hours, or 20 years. Maintenance costs are also said to decrease.
According to Clay Fearnow, director of maritime missions business development, the company will complete the first outer wing as part of the Chilean Navy’s MLU in March 2017, with the central wing section and horizontal stabilisers being finished in August of this year.
‘We are building the wings right now at our Marietta facility,’ said Fearnow, speaking to Shephard at the FIDAE airshow in Chile. ‘It is now just a case of who is going to fit them.’
The Chilean Navy has not yet contracted for the fitting of the wings to the aircraft, but an announcement is due shortly.
Lockheed Martin could do the job at its Greenville site in South Carolina, but other contractors can also carry out the work including L-3 and even the US Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE).
Elsewhere, the Brazilian Air Force currently has an RFP out to upgrade four of its P-3 Orions. There is also potential opportunities with Argentina, the only other operator of the P-3 in the Latin American region.
Fearnow explained that Lockheed began the P-3 Orion MLU programme after the last production aircraft rolled off the production line for South Korea in 2003.
At that time, New Zealand requested six new wings before production finished, which then spurred Lockheed to address corrosion issues and retain its P-3 wing production capability for customers that wanted to upgrade.
Since then, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 100 MLU kits to countries such as Norway, Canada, Germany, Taiwan, the US Navy and US Customs and Border Protection and, now, Chile.