The P-3 is capable of carrying up to 20,000 lb (9,071 kg) of ordnance. It has an internal bomb bay and can carry AIM-9 Sidewinders, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, depth charges, torpedoes or mines.
Posted on 12/26/2010 9:03:17 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The first of a dozen anti-submarine aircraft are set to go into service in Taiwan next year, local media reported Sunday, as East Asian governments look to counter an increasingly assertive China.
Washington agreed in 2007 to sell the refurbished P-3C Orion patrol aircraft, along with three non-operational machines for spares, and "the first ones will be delivered beginning next year," the Taipei-based China Times said.
"The surveillance range of Taiwan's anti-submarine fleet will expand tenfold after the P-3Cs join the navy," it quoted an unnamed military source as saying.
Taiwan's navy declined to comment on the report.
The P-3C fleet, which costs around 1.96 billion US dollars, is intended to replace the island's ageing S-2T anti-submarine aircraft.
(Excerpt) Read more at brahmand.com ...
The US Navy is replacing the P-3C with a modified Boeing 737. A real mistake. The P-3C can fly low and slow for hours by shutting down the two inner engines and feathering the props. It can also carry a variety of weapons. The 737 will have to be heavily modified and it STILL won’t fly as slow as the P-3. It is like trying to make a tank out of a tour bus.
Amazing that the old S2s are still flying.
I wonder how long it will take the Taiwanese to integrate their Hsiung Feng cruise missiles with the P3s.
ping
The P-3 is capable of carrying up to 20,000 lb (9,071 kg) of ordnance. It has an internal bomb bay and can carry AIM-9 Sidewinders, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, depth charges, torpedoes or mines.
I thought they carried the Wun Hung Lo?
Never carried the AIM-9 except for test only... and it also carries the AGM-65F Maverick and AGM-84K SLAM-ER.
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There is no comparable platform to the old Lockheed Orion available unless you want to do something with the C-130 airframe. The existing P-3s are flown out. They have to replace them with something.
A P-3 jock would be a better source but normally #1 is feathered not 2 & 4; known as three-engine loiter. Why #1? #1 is the primary shutdown because it has no generator. When two engines are shutdown they are #1 and #4; outboard, not #2 and #3; inboard.
I like the Osprey as a new ASW platform idea
Gotcha.
Why not make new P-3s?
P.S. They are TOO flown out or they wouldn’t be refurbishing and selling them.
The newest airframe was delivered 20 years ago. I would imagine it's impossible to start building them from scratch after all these years.
I believe they were looking at the Osprey as a replacement for the S-3. The idea was that they could incorporate all the electronics of an S-3 as well as a dipping sonar since they could also hover. But it was an expensive platform and went out the window with the end of the Cold War.
All tooling was transferred from Burbank CA to Marietta GA where Lockheed’s big bomber factory is ready to crank out P-3s. Electras.
To the U.S. Navy. Lockheed production for Korea continued into 1995 after the line was moved to Marietta. Lockheed has since restarted P-3 replacement wing production at that plant.
The last new build P-3, a license built UP-3D, was delivered to the JMSDF by Kawasaki in February of 2000.
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