In the late 1950s, the approaching obsolescence of the P2V Neptune and P5M Marlin led the US Navy to look for a replacement, requiring an aircraft that could be quickly obtained and modified “off the shelf,” and one powered by turboprops. Lockheed’s L-188 Electra, which had just begun revenue service, seemed the perfect fit, and Lockheed was awarded the contract to build the P3V-1 Orion beginning in 1958, which in turn became the P-3A Orion in 1962. In the end, the P-3 Orion would be one of the most widely produced antisubmarine warfare aircraft in history, and would far surpass its airliner counterpart.
Though based on the Electra, the P-3 moved the wing forward, giving the impression that it was shorter than the airliner—in actuality, the Orion is 13 feet longer. This is due to its radar nose and Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) boom behind the tail. The MAD boom, which detects submarines by the disturbance they make in the earth’s magnetic field, is one of a plethora of antisubmarine warfare weapons carried by the P-3, which also includes sonobuoys, depth charges, and torpedoes. The P-3 was also able to benefit from improvements made in the Electra design, and being somewhat aerodynamically smoother, is actually one of the fastest turboprops in the world, able to keep up with even some turbofan aircraft, like the S-3 Viking. The first P3V-1 flew in August 1958, and entered the fleet four years later as the P-3A. Less than two months after it was introduced, the P-3A got its baptism of fire, of sorts, helping patrol the blockade line during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not long after, the P-3 achieved another first, being one of the first aircraft to be equipped with a digital computer.
The P-3 would go on to fifty years of operations, and ironically, has never been used to attack an enemy submarine. It has, however, consistently maintained patrols of the seaboards of the United States, tracking Soviet submarines during the Cold War. Maritime patrol has been the Orion’s forte: after the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was next used in Vietnam during Operation Market Time, successfully shutting down arms shipments by sea from North Vietnam to the Viet Cong in the south; despite being used continually for the duration of the Vietnam War, only two P-3s were lost.
Since Vietnam, the P-3’s role has been expanded to overland surveillance and support operations, as well as significant upgrades in the baseline P-3C variant. During the First Gulf War, the Orion’s sensors were used to track Iraqi fast attack craft and vector in US Navy aircraft to sink them; one P-3 was able to determine that an “Egyptian” ship was actually Iraqi, by using its sensors to see through a recent paint job. Today, the P-3 is used over Afghanistan to track Taliban movements, and along the coast of Somalia, where it has been used to attack pirate vessels; during the 2011 Libyan War, P-3s patrolled the Libyan coast and accounted for at least one Libyan Navy frigate during the conflict.
Besides maritime/antisubmarine patrol, there are several specialized variants of the baseline P-3—forty of them. This includes cargo aircraft, VIP transports, and electronic warfare/surveillance aircraft, the latter referred to as the EP-3 Aries. The P-3 is also flown by 17 nations, most of which are P-3Cs or closely related aircraft, though both Japan and Taiwan fly their own versions of the EP-3 Aries. In addition to its military duties, P-3s are also used by NOAA for weather and hurricane research, while the US Customs Service has a fleet of 16 P-3s, including P-3Ts (equipped with the same radar as the F-15 Eagle) and P-3AEWs (with the same radar as the E-2C Hawkeye) to patrol the Gulf of Mexico, mainly intercepting drug trafficking boats, aircraft, and midget submarines.
757 Orions were built between 1958 and 1990, when production ended, including over a hundred built under license by Kawasaki of Japan. Its age has led to a number of proposed upgrades and replacements, including the P-7, which would have been based on the P-3C airframe but with a number of changes. This was rejected in favor of the P-8A Poseidon, based on the airframe of the 737-800 airliner; the first P-8s began reaching the US Navy in 2011. P-3s will likely remain in service for several more decades.
This P-3C was built in 1989 for the Royal Norwegian Air Force as serial number 3299. Assigned to 333 Squadron at Andoya, 3299 was nicknamed "Ulabrand" for legendary 19th Century Norwegian sea pilot Anders "Ulabrand" Johansen. It would serve with the RNAF until 2023, when the Norwegian P-3 fleet was retired. 3299 was flown to the United States for storage at AMARC, and was then sold to the Argentine Navy, the first of four ex-RNAF P-3s meant to replace the Argentinians' ancient S-2 Trackers. However, as payment has yet to go through, 3299 sits in limbo, parked in the restoration yard of the Pima Air and Space Museum, although it is not part of the museum collection.
Though the RNAF roundels have been painted out, 3299 still wears the overall dark gray finish used by RNAF P-3s, along with 333 Squadron's "Saint" tail marking--the symbol of Simon Templar, the hero of Leslie Charteris' short stories and a famous TV show starring a pre-Bond Roger Moore. Should Argentina decide against its purchase of the former RNAF P-3s, 3299's fate would probably be a return to storage...but as Pima lacks a standard P-3 (it has a VP-3 executive transport and P-3 AEW&C), it could remain pretty much where it is. Either way, I was lucky 3299 was in a good spot to get a picture when I visited Pima in June 2024.
