The P-3C is a land-based, long range anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft. It has advanced submarine detection sensors such as directional frequency and ranging (DIFAR) sonobuoys and magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) 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. The P-3C can either operate alone or supporting many different customers including the carrier battlegroup and amphibious readiness group. The aircraft can carry a variety of weapons internally and on wing pylons, such as the Harpoon anti-surfacemissile, the MK-50 torpedo and the MK-60 mine.
P-3C Orions
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By kjfitz @ 2005-12-03 13:01:13
Analogman
@ 2005-12-04 11:12:04
Interesting photo and a good illustration of how pattern analysis is done. You can see there are nine P-3 parking spots, with the DANGER - PROPELLER areas painted on the tarmac. You'll notice that the parking spots closer to the hangar have more oil stains, indicating they are used more often than the ones farther from the hangar. (Nobody wants to walk farther than they have to for parts and tools.) Also, notice that each spot has four black smudges, one for each engine, but the inboard pair are much darker and they have streaks leading into, and out of, the parking areas. This indicates that P-3s taxi using only the inboard engines (that's where the streaks come from) and the inboard spots are heavier and darker than the outboard spots (inboard engines run longer before and after parking so they leave more oil on the ground.)