Posted on 10/20/2015 7:19:16 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Lockheed Martin has detailed a proposal to supply former US Navy S-3B Viking anti-submarine warfare aircraft to the South Korean Navy.
The work would see 12 S-3B's removed from long-term storage in the Arizona desert and updated with new equipment, says Clay Fearnow, director of maritime patrol programs at Lockheed Martin. Fearnow spoke to Flightglobal at the Lockheed Martin Chalet at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2015.
Fearnow, a former S-3B pilot, says the type has a number of attributes that make it suitable for a return to active service. He says the type was retired mainly owing to the absence of a submarine threat to US carrier battle groups with the end of the Cold War, as well as the navy's desire to narrow the number of aircraft types operating from carriers.
Lockheed estimates that the S-3B airframes in storage still have around 10-12,000hrs flying time remaining.
Fearnow says that the aircraft's cockpits would not require upgrading, but that several systems would. The aircraft's metalic anomaly detector would need to be updated from analogue to digital technology. Other work would involve the aircraft's sonobuoys and ESM equipment. Given South Korea's interest in developing its aerospace capabilities, any work to upgrade the aircraft would all but certainly be undertaken in South Korea, likely by Korea Aerospace Industries or KAL-ASD - the aerospace arm of Korea Airlines.
The aircraft would operate with a four man crew, and would be capable of carrying a mix of four torpedoes and/or anti-shipping missiles.
Other systems integrators, he adds, will likely bid for S-3B refurbishment work should the South Korean move forward with a formal request for proposals. He feels, however, that Lockheed's long experience with the type puts it in a strong position for any requirement that emerges. He says the US company has a significant amount of data about the jet, and conducted all major upgrades when the aircraft served with the US navy.
Should a deal be concluded, which could occur as soon as 2017, the S-3B could re-enter
service in 2019. The initial requirement for the type appears to be 12 aircraft.
When asked if it makes sense for South Korea to be the world's sole operator of a small fleet of bespoke aircraft, Fearnow says that 12 is probably the minimum size for such a fleet.
Moreover, he says that Lockheed has held discussions with two other Asian countries regarding the S-3B, as well as one South American country.
Although the S-3B no longer serves aboard US aircraft carriers, the US navy's VX-30 test and evaluation squadron still operates the type in support roles.
Sources at the ADEX show in Seoul say that South Korea is increasingly concerned about the threat posed by North Korea’s submarine fleet, creating a requirement to complement the country’s fleet of P-3C Orions.
Good point. As the U.S. Navy transitions to the P-8, there's going to be a lot of P-3s headed to the boneyards.
Good points, all.
How many F-35’s do think will be built? We stopped building F-22’s way too early. F-35 countries are dropping out, the latest surely, Canada.
Depends on politics. It's gonna cost a fortune, but as long as Trump or Cruz win next year, expect to see the F-22 restarted and the F-35 run gets halted.
Operational costs for the smaller (1/2 the number of engines, for example) S-3 will almost certainly be cheaper than the P-3.
Plus South Korea doesn’t need the range of the larger aircraft. And I think the P-3s have less hours remaining on the airframes than the S-3s do.
The S-3s also left service with some interesting surveillance capability, thanks to the integration of the LANTIRN pods that were inherited from the F-14 fleet and integrated. The final S-3 deployment wasn’t even from a carrier, but rather land-based in Iraq providing real time suveillance. I wonderof the South Koreans will get any of those pods?
I think I’ve read somewhere that DoD did the Cortez thing and had the F-22 tooling destroyed so the line couldn’t be restarted.
So the F-35 is it. Despite all the teething problems, I think the F-35 is going to turn out to be a really good strike-fighter. It won’t match the F-22 in the air supremecy role, but it’ll be a world-beating replacement for the AV-8B and Legacy Hornet, as well as the long-retired F-117. And for the F-16 in everything but the day-fighter role.
I wasn’t thinking about range (distance) so much as total time in the air on patrol without landing or refueling.
SoK already uses the P-3C, these are the second tier to replace their former S-2 Trackers.
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