Lockheed Martin, a Raytheon Systems/Bombardier Services team, and possibly Boeing have submitted bids for the US Navy's P-3C Service Life Assessment Programme (SLAP) that would lead to major airframe modifications designed to keep the Orion aircraft flying until 2015, when the Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) is expected to enter service.
Although all options remain on the table regarding the future MMA, USN officials say the unfunded P-3C Service Life Extention Programme (SLEP) could very well evolve into the MMA should additional remanufacturing be the selected solution.
The USN has proposed a more comprehensive SLEP that would include re-engining and possibly a re-winging effort. Now powered by the Rolls-Royce Allison T-56 turboprop, the USN considers the Lockheed Martin C-130J's Rolls-Royce Allison AE2100D3/six-bladed all-composite Dowty R391 propeller combination a possibility.
The Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion long-range maritime patrol aircraft is already undergoing an anti-corrosion treatment to extend the aircraft's average useful life to 38 years. The Sustained Readiness Programme (SRP) was won by Raytheon Systems in 1994. About 40 of a planned 60 SRP modifications are funded.
The SLAP/SLEP will identify the structural repairs necessary to extend the Orion's service life to 2015. The companies are bidding for a follow-on 24-month SLAP contract to include full-scale fatigue testing, teardown and SLEP kit definition beginning in 1999. The SLEP is planned to start in fiscal year 2002 as part of a combined SRP/SLEP. The $60 million SLAP contract could lead to at least $1 billion in P-3 SLEP work, says a senior Lockheed Martin official.
At one point, the MMA was to replace the USN's 246 P-3s, EP-3s, Boeing E-6s and Lockheed Martin C-130s, but the decision has been made to limit the MMA to a P-3/EP-3 replacement, says Cdr CJ Kalb, P-3 requirements officer.
A remanufactured P-3 beyond the SLEP work is a MMA option as are the C-130J and a militarised Boeing 737. A new design aircraft is "an outside possibility" due to funding constraints, Kalb says. He says the USN will soon award contracts for MMA trade studies.
Canada is participating in the SLAP studies and is interested in the MMA effort. Kalb says the USN is keeping Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force abreast of the MMA effort, but notes that the Japan Defence Agency and Kawasaki want to launch development of a home-grown P-3C replacement.
Source: Flight International
