11 Facts About P-3 Orion

Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s.

P-3 Orion has four Allison T56 turboprops, which give it a top speed of 411 knots comparable to the fastest propeller fighters, or even to slow high-bypass turbofan jets such as the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II or the Lockheed S-3 Viking.

In military roles that value fuel efficiency more than speed, the P-3 Orion remained in service for over 50 years after its 1962 introduction.

At its height, the U S Navy's P-3 community consisted of twenty-four active duty "Fleet" patrol squadrons home based at air stations in the states of Florida and Hawaii as well as bases which formerly had P-3 operations in Maryland, Maine, and California.

P-3 Orion's mission expanded in the late 1990s and early 2000s to include battlespace surveillance both at sea and over land.

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The P-3 Orion fired AGM-65 Maverick missiles on Vittoria, which was beached.

On 29 October 2008, a Spanish P-3 Orion aircraft patrolling the coast of Somalia reacted to a distress call from an oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

Later, on 29 March 2009, the same P-3 Orion pursued the assailants of the German navy tanker Spessart, resulting in the capture of the pirates.

Several P-3 Orion aircraft have been N-registered and are operated by civilian agencies.

One P-3 Orion, N426NA, is used by National Aeronautics and Space Administration as an Earth science research platform, primarily for the NASA Science Mission Directorate's Airborne Science Program.

The P-3 Orion celebrated 50 years of RAAF service in November 2018.