A relief is onstation…
As the P-3 ‘sunsets’ as the platform of choice for ASW in the Navy, there’s a new player in town…
The first two P-8 Poseidon aircraft are onstation in Kadena Okinawa as of yesterday…
Two of the Navy’s new P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft have arrived at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Navy officials in Japan said Monday.
The P-8’s long-planned arrival in the western Pacific comes about a week after China unilaterally declared a broad swath of the East China Sea’s air space as its national air defense identification zone and demanded that military aircraft identify themselves and file flight plans with the Chinese government.
Read the whole Stars and Stripes article HERE.
Much like the P-3’s first ‘operational’ flights in 1962 against the Cuban Missile Blockade, the P-8 will have to hit the ground running…
Us old farts may grumble, but it IS time for a new platform. The P-3s are tired, maintenance costs are through the roof, and spares few and far between. When the final birds are retired, they will be 60 years old. Not quite in the same class as the BUFF or T-38, but getting up there for a military aircraft, especially one that has operated over salt water for its entire life span (and exceeded it by 20 years already)…
The ‘kids’ today have spent a year plus transitioning to the P-8, jumped through all the hoops, passed all the checks, and they will make us proud.
I hate to see a venerable old war horse like the P-3 become redundant, but as you say, time marches on. AND in a modern environment, the P-8 is a more appropriate platform.
And it looks like they’ll get their baptism of fire looking for ChiCom subs in the disputed zone between Japan and China.
LL- True, and kinda sorta more appropriate… Next time we get together we can chat on that.
PE- That they will!
Yeah, I get a similar feeling when I realize the F-15 that had my name on it (in deference to Old AF Sarge) was a 1978 model and is still flying. Which meant if we had started WWII with 35 year old airplanes, they would have been not much better than Wright Flyers.
I hate to see the P-3 go away, but … I’m not old, darn it! Getting there, though.
Juvat- My first P-3 had rolled off the line in 63, the last one I flew 1974. I know what you mean!
Rev- Heh, know the feeling…
But, IIRC, the US variant won’t have MAD gear. . .
Also, CAN that thing patrol as long as a P-3? Or turn so tight as to stay basically in a small defined area like a sentry? The idea of knowing you can (if necessary) keep a P-3 over the same patch of water for so long, sniffing for a steel hull under the water, plays a big factor into SLOC barrier operations, no?
An era passes. Hopefully the P-8 will be just as successful.
Geez….I didn’t feel like a dinosaur until I realized that every aircraft I ever hung a bomb on was long retired.
A-4
F-4
A-6
AV8A (the originals came with an umbrella for the driver)
Better go lie down.
Hymie
The plane that retired and never got replaced that concerns me most is the S-3.
I felt the same way when ‘my’ M-60 tanks were replaced by the M1 Abrams.
It may very well be time for the new P-8s. But with the Chicoms rattling their sabers I’d sure like to see a few P-3s keep around ‘just in case…’
CenTex,
Having watched Leopards blast past us and our M-60s in the late 70s down at Graf and Bad Kissingen I have to say that I was not the least bit sad to see the US replace M-60s with M1 Abrams. Not one little bit.
I do know the feeling though, hearing that my unit, 40th Armored Brigade, was being inactivated and the most important think I ever stood guard over other than my wife and daughters, Checkpoint Charlie, relocated to a museum. It’s all goodness though and the changes were positive.
Don’t like flying over big water with only two motors.
Will EADS continue their P-3 program?
Geodk- Good point, and they are ‘working’ on options…
DB- Considering how ‘critical’ the capability is, yeah, one hopes!
Hymie- I know the feeling, I also worked on A-4s and F-4s…
McT- Actually they are replacing it with the 60-R helo…
Tim- The P-3s aren’t ‘disappearing’ for a few more years.
Knucklehead- Good point!
Ed- Yeah, that IS an issue…
WSF- For now, yes.
The only problem with replacing the S-3 with a helo is that our carrier air wings only have ONE strike platform left — Hornets. Ditto refueling (Hornets via buddy stores).
IIRC, an S-3 was a not-bad strike aircraft (limited payload but plenty of range), a good (albeit small) tanker, decent recon platform, etc. Bugs (even Super Bugs) are still too damned short-legged!
Sure, the airframes we had were pretty worn out, but we should have replaced it with something comparable before retirement. By dumping it AND the A-6, we’ve SEVERELY compromised our projection capacity.
Geodk- No question… And actually they are looking at S-3s back on the boat as CODs and tankers… And you’re dead on with the last sentence!!!
Knucklehead – it wasn’t so much the change in tanks as the fact that it signified a passage of time. Agreed that it was all for the best.
Tim- Good point!
Two that also deserve mention: 1) KC-135…the variant I flew on in Alaska (RC-135S,T,V,W,X) from ’83 to ’91 were 1962 models and are still in service today. 2) C-130…still being produced by Lockheed. I spent 4 years flying on these down at Davis Monthan…the EC-130H. I think they’re past the Z model and are double lettering by now.
Gary- Good point, I’d forgotten about the KC’s… And the C-130 came out about the same time as the P-3!