News

Newest P-3C Sees Through Clouds and in the Dark By JOC Tim Adams NAVEUR NEWS SERVICE (37-98) 15 October 1998 NAPLES, Italy (NWSA) -- Patrol Squadron (VP) FIVE at NAS Sigonella, Sicily, recently received the first P-3C Orion aircraft refitted with upgrades for day or night surveillance and Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) capability. The package, called the Antisurface Warfare Improvement Program (AIP), also includes a new suite of sensor, communications and self-defense equipment. A new Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) enables the aircrew to see through cloud cover or camouflage netting with startling clarity. For surveillance purposes, its camera quality imagery can be downlinked in real-time and be available instantly on any battlefield commander's desktop computer. "Now we have an aircraft that's able to do the job during bad weather and at night, and when you have that ability, everybody wants to use you," said CDR Ken Deutsch, Commander, Task Force (CTF) 67 operations officer. "The P-3 has always been a true all weather ASW aircraft," said Capt. Lawrence Cotton, CTF-67 Chief of Staff, after viewing the new AIP model. "Now it's truly also an all weather surveillance platform. We did not compromise or lose any old abilities, we still have those plus more tools in the toolbox -- mines, torpedoes, harpoon cruise missiles, bombs, Maverick, depth charges, sonobuoys and now SLAM."