U.S. Navy’s Greatest Cold War Hunter
Today’s P-3 Orion is an essential weapon, over both sea and land in today’s wars!
According to Greek mythology, Orion was a great hunter who pursued Pleiades and after his death, was placed in the sky as a constellation. The aptly named P-3 Orion was initially conceived to hunt Soviet submarines. Over its 45 years of service, the P-3 has hovered over the globe like a star in the sky.
Originally designed as a land-based, long-range, ASW (anti-submarine warfare) patrol aircraft, the P-3’s mission evolved in the late 1990s and early 21st Century to include surveillance of the battle space, either at sea or over land. Its long range and long loiter time proved invaluable assets during Operation Iraqi Freedom, as it can view the battle space and instantaneously provide that information to ground troops, especially U.S. Marines.
The P-3 has advanced submarine detection sensors such as DIFAR (directional frequency and ranging) sonobuoys and MAD (magnetic anomaly detection) equipment. The avionics system is integrated by a general-purpose digital computer that supports all of the tactical displays, monitors and automatically launches ordnance, and provides flight information to the pilots. In addition, the system coordinates navigation information and accepts sensor data inputs for tactical display and storage.
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