Posted on 05/22/2011 9:25:47 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Pakistan has now lost two of its three Orion aircraft
Sabir Shah
Monday, May 23, 2011
LAHORE: Of just the three P-3 series Orion anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft that Pakistan had acquired from the United States in 1996, two have now been lost.
According to the website of the Pakistan Navy, one of these planes (bearing serial number 83) was lost due to an accident while carrying out routine exercises over the coastal waters of Pasni (Balochistan) on October 29, 1999.
This was one of the 46 Pakistani aircraft that had crashed between 1996 and 2000, and one of the 12 during the year 1999 alone.
After taking off from PNS Mehran Base, the P-3C Orion of the 28 Squadron was on an exercise with other ships and aircraft from Masroor Air Base in Karachi, when it had mysteriously crashed, killing 10 officers and 11 sailors on board.
The P-3C Orion plane set ablaze by terrorists in Karachi on Sunday night was also parked at the hangars of the PNS Mehran Base of the Pakistan Navy, which was commissioned on September 26, 1975 after the first of the six Westland Sea King helicopters was acquired from Britain on September 28, 1974.
The delivery of these P-3C Orion Maritime patrol aircraft had earlier been withheld due to the application of the Pressler Amendment in 1990.
Costing US$36 million or over Rs3 billion, the gutted P-3C Orion plane at Karachi was one of the 757 such aircraft developed since November 1959.
Having a length of 35.57 metres, a wingspan of 30.36 metres and a height of 10.27 metres, this aircraft was recently used by the United States in the maritime surveillance mission in Libya.
This four-engine carrier is also used for anti-surface warfare and can operate at a top speed of 745 kilometres per hour. It is manufactured by Messrs Lockheed Martin of America and Messrs Kawasaki of Japan.
The whole religion of virgins, the first sip of alcohol is wrong but not the rest and the general excuse for blood lust, is unfortunately infected into the left via this disease called DIALECTICs, also known in street language as: “you would do that if you were in their spot or place of powers”. Says who?
This is why liberals are so paranoiac, hypocritical and politicaly driven instead of sane.
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Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I'd guess it's also what you say when you find some system is out of spec, or some part is worn out ...
I’ll ship over. Marines have an interest in the people who pay them. Ping Me.
It was a $600 toilet seat, not $2000.
Congress had passed a law that required transfers of hardware from Active service to Reserve service to be “essentially new” condition (to prevent removing all good hardware to support Active, while screwing the Reservists.)
Well -the “conformal” fitting toilet seat on these P-3’s, if damaged, was replaced with the closest approximate fitting seat from a local hardware store. Workable - but not “pretty”.
When the Navy transferred a half-dozen or so P-3’s to the Reserve squadrons, there were several P-3s that DIDN’T have the proper conformal seat, and to be in compliance with the law, the Navy had to order several seats from the fabricator. Imagine the cost to ...1. review the contract from the Navy and ensure compliance with untold number of rules/regulations 2. Find and pull out the mold ....3. Fabricate a limited number of seats for the Navy ....4. Ship said seats to the Navy 5. Submit billing to the Navy and justify all chargeable expenses.
While I don’t like the $600 per seat cost - the company probably made less than 5% profit, and had to have all sorts of accountant time and lawyer review time to ensure that they didn’t do anything that might get some Inspector General to come after them for some sort of crime (including laws that they might not even be aware of!!).
Welcome aboard. Everyone is welcome. IIRC we already have a few “airedales with whitewalls.”
The purchasing agent goes batso with horror! "No, you have to charge me $250 based on last years price! Otherwise, the GAO audit will eat me alive! How would I explain that I charge $250 the first time and the next time, it's free?"
True story.
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