Friday, October 29, 2010

Video: End of Conference Thoughts


Ray Burick and Mark Jarvis reflect on the 2010 P-3 IOSC.


Video: Bruce Lewis

Bruce Lewis from Canada talks about how P-3 operators can learn from each other at the IOSC.



Thursday, October 28, 2010

Video: David Gossen

David Gossen from IMP Aerospace discusses the industry opportunities at IOSC.


Day 3 Photos

Last night, conference attendees enjoyed the IOSC dinner with keynote speaker, Major General Michael C. Kostelnik (Ret.), Assistant Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Air and Marine. General Kostelnik discussed CBP's decision to re-wing 14 of their P-3s to keep them operating for 20-25 more years. He said CBP leadership examined their mission and determined that the P-3 was the best airframe to accomplish the mission, as long as the aircraft are safe and the systems are relevant.




Conference attendees also toured the Lockheed Martin P-3 wing line and the CBP P-3 on Wednesday.

Video: Hilton Baker


Flight Lieutenant Hilton Baker from the Royal New Zealand Air Force talks about the value of the IOSC for P-3 operators.

Last Day of P-3 IOSC 2010

Today is the last day of the 2010 P-3 IOSC.

There were just a couple presentations this morning. Attendees will wrap up any final meetings, and then the 2010 P-3 International Operators Support Conference will be complete.

We have some pictures and videos to post today to wrap up the blog. Please let us know if you have and questions or suggestions for us.

If you're looking for presentations from the conference, check the P-3 IOSC website in a couple weeks.

Hope everyone had a great conference!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

P-3 Aircraft Tour at Lockheed Martin

Today, conference attendees and Lockheed Martin employees had the opportunity to tour the Customs and Border Protection P-3 that was recently re-winged, as well as a U.S. Navy aircraft.

Ray Burick (middle, left), Lockheed Martin’s vice president of P-3 Programs, talks with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol crew members and Gen. Michael Kostelnik (front, right), assistant commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Air and Marine.

Lockheed Martin employees tour the CBP aircraft.


Operator: Germany

Manfred Brunkowski from the German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement introduced a contract recently awarded to ESG for the German P-3C Mission Support Center. Brunkowski is responsible of mission systems of the P-3.

Ingo Eickmann from ESG discussed the Mission Support Center in greater detail.

The system provides mission preparation and post-mission analysis to establish a common data base and archive. The data archives includes three classifications of information: geo (map and satellite images), object (ship or submarine information) and mission (from original task order through mission report).

The report generator can pre-fill the mission report with data, which can then be expanded upon by the crew after the mission.

The German Navy began using the preliminary systems in mid-2010, and expect final systems delivery in 2011.

Operator: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Lothar Eckardt and Rick High of U.S. Customs and Border Protection are the first briefing after lunch.

U.S. CBP P-3s operate out of Jacksonville, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas.

They showed a great video about the record-breaking fiscal year 2009. That year, CBP interdicted more than 250,000 pounds of narcotics - their best year ever. This includes seizing 29 vessels, 102,000 pounds of cocaine, 106 suspects and $12.4 million in cash. CBP P-3s were also the FEMA first responder to Hurricane Ike.

In the 2010 fiscal year, CBP disrupted and seized more than 197,000 pounds of narcotics. Their primary accomplishment in 2010 was increased availability, with 6 aircraft each on the ramps in Jacksonville and Corpus Christi. This allowed CBP to surpass flight hour requirements and achieve the most flight hours Jacksonville has ever achieved in a single year.



CBP P-3s are uniquely able to locate self-propelled semi-submersibles (SPSS), which are 60-85 feet long and difficult to find. Eckardt mentioned that the next threat will be self-propelled fully submersibles, although CBP has not found one yet.





CBP recently received its first re-winged aircraft from Lockheed Martin, which High said flies like a brand new aircraft. CBP plans to re-wing 14 of its 16 airplanes, allowing for 20 more years of operation.





Because of the relatively small P-3 fleet, CBP prefers to work with other operators to conduct joint projects that will help both operators save money. They are currently discussing full-motion video capability and cockpit upgrade projects with other operators and are open to other ideas.

Operator: Portugal

Major Horacio Santos from the Portuguese Air Force is presenting about the P-3C CUP+ Upgrade.

Portugal is a small country, but has responsibility for a large sea area, so the PtAF has a great need for updated maritime patrol aircraft. The primary mission is maritime patrol, including submarines and surface ships. The secondary mission is search and rescue, but Major Santos suspects that their P-3 mission will be redefined when new capabilities are achieved with new mission systems.

The PtAF was able to work with Lockheed Martin MS2 in the lab during mission system software qualification tests, which Major Santos says was very helpful and suggests to other operators. They will have new hardware, radar, acoustic systems, data link, navigation, electronic warfare and many other new systems. The new systems will give the PtAF improved pictures, often with information or sensor output integrated. The PtAF is looking forward to fielding the upgraded aircraft to see how it operates. They are hoping to operate the P-3 CUP+ for 25 more years.

1st Lt. Filipe M. S. Pedro is now briefing about PtAF P-3 operation and sustainment.

The PtAF currently operates several different P-3 configurations, which fly 300-400 hours per year.

Current sustainment issues include the air multiplier, propellers, landing gear, drag struts and navigation units. He is looking for feedback from other operators regarding whether they have similar issues and how they are addressing them.

Operator: Norway

Lt. Colonel OddArne Andreassen from the Royal Norwegian Air Force is giving a short presentation about the RNAF P-3 program.

RNAF is making some small modifications to the cockpit, but most of the work is being done on the Aircraft Service Life Extension Program (ASLEP).

P-3Cs are being updated with new systems as well as the ASLEP. Lockheed Martin is manufacturing the RNAF ALSEP kit, and the wings are installed by IMP Aerospace.

First ASLEP delivery is expected for the first quarter of 2011.

Operator: New Zealand

Flight Lieutenant Hilton Baker from the Royal New Zealand Air Force is presenting about RNZAF P-3 operations.

The RNZAF has six P-3s, which they plan to operate through 2025.

Current roles of the RNZAF P-3 vary and include anti-submarine warfare, disaster relief, airshows, surveillance and reconnaissance, and even aeromedical evacuation. They carry out operations across the world.

RNZAF challenges include radomes, weapon systems, acoustic processor and sea rescue obsolescence. The RNZAF has a System Upgrade Project that is underway to improve P-3 mission systems.

Operator: NOAA

Commander Carl Newman from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is briefing about their P-3s. Their P-3s are primarily used for hurricane hunting. NOAA's first two aircraft are named Miss Piggy and Kermit, and they recently refurbished a third aircraft.

NOAA has 10,000 hours on the airframes, which have many unique features for their weather and science mission.


Commander Newman says NOAA's three challenges are engines, sea salt effects on the aircraft, and determining whether the aircraft should be re-winged.


Lockheed Martin is doing a Service Life Assessment Program (SLAP) for NOAA to determine whether they need to re-wing their planes, particularly taking cost and timeline into account.

Operator: Canadian CP-140 Aurora

Lt. Colonel Derek (Duff) Gowanlock of the Canadian Forces is presenting about the CP-140 Aurora.

Canada has 18 CP-140s Auroras in their fleet, which are primarily responsible for combat operations, support of air operations and surveillance, search and rescue and environmental law enforcement among other missions. The CP-140s also supports large events such as the Winter Olympics that were held in Vancouver earlier this year.

The Canadian Forces are incrementally adding capability with Applanix Camera and Overland Equipment Mission Suite (OEMS). These upgrades provide detailed text and imagery to ground stations.

Ten CP-140 aircraft are getting new wings (Aircraft Service Life Extension Program - ASLEP) and full mission system upgrades (Aurora Incremental Modernization Project - AIMP) to allow for operations beyond 2020 and at least 35,000 flight hours. AIMP includes fully integrated, digital and color systems that significantly increase capability.


Because of the time required for ASLEP and AIMP upgrades, the primary challenge for the Canadian Forces is aircraft availability.

Lt. Colonel Gowanlock said the future of the Canadian Forces' CP-140 is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well interoperability with unmanned aircraft.

Operator: U.S. Navy MPRA

Captain Mike Moran from the U.S. Navy Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft stressed that every dollar spent must improve ability to get P-3s into service. The U.S. Navy is looking to share investments across the force.

MPRA has two Integrated Project Teams for P-3: Airframe Sustainment and Mission Systems Sustainment. These IPTs work with the greater MPRA, including the P-8 team, to identify opportunities to benefit from shared investments.

Captain Moran said the team has had tremendous success with investments in acoustics that will be fielded on both the P-3 and P-8 platforms.

The future of the Navy's EP-3 is still unknown, but the Navy plans to sustain the EP-3 until a replacement is fielded (which could be 2020 or later). Captain Moran said the Navy will likely maintain 40 or so P-3 aircraft in the future, in addition to P-8 and unmanned systems.

Captain Moran reiterated Captain Rondeau's message: the Navy has much better P-3 availability compared to last year's IOSC. There are now about 80 airplanes on the ramp, up from 50 last year, and aircraft spend 92% less time awaiting depot.

Captain Moran said the U.S. Navy's fleet priorities are focused on regaining expertise in anti-submarine warfare and increasing readiness. More specifically, Captain Moran's priorities are to reduce turnaround time with depots, support missions and execute the program.



The U.S. Navy is currently investing in P-8 development, and some projects are done jointly with the P-3 program to keep the P-3 relevant and moving forward. In general, the Navy is moving toward interoperability with U.S. and joint forces.


Captain Moran said U.S. Navy P-3 program is dedicated to supporting international operators, as interoperability is key.

Operator: U.S. Navy

Captain Aaron Rondeau, the P-3 department head for PMA-290 for the U.S. Navy, presented first in the operator presentations this morning.

The U.S. Navy made significant gains in the last year to improve their P-3 airframe sustainment efforts. Since the 2009 P-3 IOSC, the U.S. Navy has increased P-3 aircraft mission availability by 34%. Captain Rondeau said this was largely because of improvements made at organic and commercial depots.


Captain Rondeau discussed several P-3 mission systems upgrades. The upgrades will provide significant capability improvements, including Link-16 communications, new acoustic hardware and software, digital autopilot, GPS, navigation and air traffic management systems.


He said the goal is to install software on the P-3s that is common or similar to the P-8, allowing for risk reduction and ease of transition.

The U.S. Navy is also focused on airframe sustainment, including depot support, fatigue tracking, inventory projections and liaison with international operators.


The Navy monitors the airframe through a corrosion and fatigue life management program. Airframe sustainment is a continuous process, and Captain Rondeau says the Navy is doing a lot better to keep more airplanes in the fleet.

The Navy tracks hazards and safety of the aircraft. Fatigue life is highest risk, so they monitor each individual airframe with hours, flight frequency and landing data. This helps them predict data for next six months to determine when aircraft may need to be repaired.

Overall, Captain Rondeau said the goal is to return airplanes to fleet and keep P-3 mission systems relevant.

Video: Jim Meier

We caught up with Jim Meier from Sabreliner yesterday.

Video: CNK





Carl Yoon from CNK talks about opportunities to meet vendors and operators at IOSC.

Video: Ken Millar

Lots of notes to go through this morning - sorry for the delay. I'll post some more videos while we're sorting through.

Ken Millar from Australian Aerospace, who presented on Monday.

Photos from yesterday

Good morning everyone! We're working on the posts from this morning's presentations. In the mean time, here are some pictures from yesterday.

International reception Tuesday night


Tuesday's golf outing



Hotel displays



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Wrapping up day 2

Today was a quiet day on the blog, with many small meetings and lots of golfing going on here at the IOSC.

Tonight there is an international reception for IOSC attendees.

Tomorrow, P-3 operators will be presenting. In the afternoon, attendees will have the opportunity to visit Lockheed Martin and tour three P-3s that are on site (US Customs and Border Protection, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a VP-30).

Video: Mark Jarvis



Mark Jarvis from Lockheed Martin talks about the value of Mid-Life Upgrades for P-3 customers. He presented about MLUs yesterday.

Videos: Rolls-Royce






We caught up with Slim Ketchum and Chris Culp from Rolls-Royce in their exhibit space. They presented yesterday about sustaining the T56 engine.




Video: Ray Burick

We talked to Ray Burick yesterday about working with P-3 operators to support their fleet. He also spoke to the group yesterday morning.

Video: Chuck Stevenson

Chuck Stevenson from Kellstrom Industries, a P-3 distributor, talks about the importance of the P-3 platform. For more information about the roll of distributors, check out our notes from yesterday.

Day two

Good morning. A lot of the IOSC attendees are out on the golf course this morning. Those that aren't golfing are in side meetings today, and subcommittees will convene later on this afternoon.

We'll be talking to some more folks today, so check back for more videos.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Wrapping up day one

The subcommittees met this afternoon with various presentations and discussions. Tonight the exhibitors are hosting a southern barbecue for attendees at the hotel.

We're getting some more videos and sound bites from the presenters here. Tomorrow is golf day, so let's hope for nice weather for our golfers.

Comment on here if you have any questions for the presenters.

Video: Lori Lindholm



Lori Lindholm from Lockheed Martin MS2 talks about the opportunity to network with international operators, vendors and suppliers at P-3 IOSC.

Video: Steve Benz



Steve Benz from Blue Aerospace talks about the importance of P-3 IOSC for the P-3 community.

P-3 Inheritance video

Ray Burick used this video in his presentation this morning. We got it up on YouTube for those of you who aren't here. The video demonstrates the importance of the P-3 Orion to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Photos from the exhibit floor

Kellstrom and Blue Aerospace exhibits





Rolls-Royce exhibit (click here for notes from their presentation)

Lori Lindholm demonstrates the P-3 C4 Workstation

Lockheed Martin booth

Australian Aerospace support of the P-3

Ken Millar, director of P-3 program for Australian Aerospace, is discussing sustainment of the the Royal Australian Air Force P-3 fleet.


Australian Aerospace became a Lockheed Martin P-3 Service Center in 2000 and primarily supports the RAAF.

The company provides engineering support, integrated logistics support, supply chain management and training for RAAF technicians.

Australian Aerospace learned from other P-3 operators' experience with the airframe, and leveraged lessons learned from other fleets' maintenance programs.


A primary Australian Aerospace contract is the Block Upgrade Program for the RAAF. The program groups together upgrade projects to maximize efficiencies in Australian P-3 maintenance time.


Australian Aerospace's goal is to improve aircraft availability to the operators.

IMP Aerospace: Sustainment of the P-3

Carl Kumpic, vice president of international marketing for IMP, is talking about IMP's work sustaining the P-3.


IMP is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and has supported the CP-140 Aurora (the Canadian version of the P-3) fleet for many years. IMP is one of four Lockheed Martin-authorized maintenance facilities.

IMP is also a Lockheed Martin-approved wire harness supplier, including Service Life Extension Program work.

The company is certified to overhaul and build new structural components for the P-3.

IMP began upgrading the CP-140 in 1984 with depot-level maintenance. Since then, IMP has worked with Lockheed Martin to conduct Service Life Assessment Program studies.

The government of Canada launched the Optimized Weapon System Support in 2002, with the objective of reducing fleet maintenance cost, increasing aircraft availability and adopting best industry practices. This means that CP-140 support is divided between three companies, where IMP provides Primary Air Vehicle services. With this change, IMP moved from a depot maintenance provider to a full in-service support provider.

Lunch time!

More to come after we grab some food. A couple posts and videos to come!

OGMA Sustainment of the P-3

Sijtze Smit is explaining recent changes in OGMA and their work supporting P-3.


OGMA has been a Lockheed Martin-authorized service center in Portugal since 1982. They serve 45 different customer countries across multiple aircraft platforms.


OGMA has more than 1,500 employees. that provide executive, commercial and military aviation service. Cover the whole aircraft, including the T56 engines, propellers, wiring, etc.


OGMA began working on the P-3 in 1972. The company is currently working on Portuguese and Spanish P-3s.


OGMA is leveraging the Full Fleet Support for the C-130 in developing Total Care systems for the P-3. OGMA is looking forward to building long-term relationships with operators in order to deliver affordable sustainment for the P-3.

Rolls-Royce T56 Engine

Slim Ketchum from Rolls-Royce is discussing long-term support of the P-3 engine, the T56.


The T56 has 50 years of service, and Rolls-Royce has continued to improve reliability with the worldwide maintenance network.

Rolls-Royce has leveraged tailored commercial support options for military and international customers. Customer options include everything from spare parts to extended support for T56 engines.


Slim says that Rolls-Royce is continually upgrading and improving components of the T56 for cost-effective ownership for the next three decades.


Chris Culp from Rolls-Royce is now talking about the series 3.5 development program for the T56 engine. The 3.5 program uses existing technologies from commercial and industrial variants, including compressor inlet housing, compressor blades, single crystal 1st stage turbine blade and compressor wheel knife seals. The changes don't require aircraft installation or interface changes, making 3.5 a low-risk technology solution for P-3 operators.


The updates improve engine fuel consumption, hot-day take off performance and turbine life. Rolls-Royce is in the last month of development for the 3.5 upgrades for the U.S. Air Force C-130H aircraft. Flight tests will be in 2011. The work done for U.S. Air Force aircraft will be leveraged for the P-3 fleet. Low rate production will begin later this year.

Pictures from this morning

Ray Burick kicks off the morning

Lockheed Martin sustainment with Ed Dumas

Lori Lindholm quizzing the audience

Distributors' role in P-3 sustainment

Steve Benz, vice president of business development at Blue Aerospace is speaking about the distributors' role in P-3 sustainment and customer support.

Steve says the world needs Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). For programs like the P-3, parts integration challenges are extremely significant. Customers want OEM parts and support, so Blue Aerospace and Kellstrom Industries support Lockheed Martin to deliver quality products to customers.

Steve said distributors are able to provide parts with OEM data and full range proactive customer support, including engineering and repair support.


Distributors can accommodate smaller sales requests on a part-by-part basis for P-3 operators. Blue and Kellstrom work with Lockheed Martin to provide spares and support, but distributors specialize in small requests as well as comprehensive support arrangements.


P-3 distributors act as force multipliers, with close ties to Lockheed Martin. They provide value by serving as a liaison between customers and Lockheed Martin, particularly for operators with small P-3 fleets. Distributors consolidate inventory across the P-3 fleet so they can deliver more affordable parts.

Benz said operators are best served by a combination of an active, disciplined distribution network, integrated OEM and well-designed Certified Parts Program.

Lori Lindholm: Scalable Airborne Mission Systems

Lori Lindholm, business development from Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems & Sensors (MS2) is presenting about scalable airborne mission systems.

Lori is quizzing the audience throughout her presentation. Her first question: the longest P-3 flight was 21.5 hours, achieved in 1972 by New Zealand.

Lori says that keeping pace with technology is important to P-3 operations. MS2's airborne mission systems are flexible and scalable. Operators can pull pallets in and out to support many missions.

Mission system upgrades allow operators to deliver integrated, tactical pictures to all operators. This feature allows communication interoperability to different platforms.

Data, information and intelligence must be supported by a reliable network, allowing P-3 operators to share information. Technology upgrades must be done on the aircraft itself and the receiver on the ground, from pre-flight planning to post-flight analysis.

Lori says a full mission system update doesn't require the full update at once. The ease is in a open-architected approach to mission system updates.

There are examples of the mission systems upgrades in the IOSC exhibit hall.

P-3 Winglet Research and Development

Dave Campbell, P-3 Chief Engineer at Lockheed Martin, is briefing more information about research and development projects.


One of the newest research and development projects this year is the P-3 winglet.

Dave says initial assessements demonstrate significant performance benefits like fuel savings, increased range and increased time on station.

We snagged some of the winglet renderings from his presentation.


































Lockheed Martin studied 100s of winglet options, and based the P-3 study on a similar study of C-130 winglets. C-130 wind tunnel tests verified cruise-drag reduction estimates.

Initial P-3 estimates expect a 2-3% increase in range or a 4-6% increase in time on station.

We're not developing the winglet for a specific customer, and haven't built or installed any yet. Next steps will be to finalize the winglet design and perform certification efforts.

Here's Dave's chart of numbers with a mission scenario.










Mark Jarvis: Mid-Life Upgrades

Mark Jarvis, director of design and production for P-3 at Lockheed Martin, is presenting about the Mid-Life Upgrade Program, or MLU.

The P-3 was designed for Anti-Submarine Warfare, but it has become much more versatile. The P-3 now supports anti-piracy, anti-terrorism, homeland security and drug interdiction missions and still has a critical role in reconnaissance.

Lockheed Martin offers the MLU as the solution to enable P-3 operations for the next 20-25 years. Currently 4 countries (5 operators) are contracted for MLU: Norway, Taiwan, Canada, U.S. Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The MLU kit includes new production outer wings, horizontal stabilizers leading edges and center wing lower surfaces. MLU replaces all fatigue-life limiting structures on the aircraft with new, corrosion resistant components to reduce cost of ownership over the aircraft service life.
The program of record is 54 MLU kits, and there are opportunities for many more MLU kits in the worldwide P-3 fleet. The updated CBP aircraft achieved first flight in July of 2010. Early next year, more MLU aircraft will be back in operation.


Ray Burick: Enabling Operational Effectiveness for Decades to Come

Ray Burick, vice president of P-3 programs for Lockheed Martin, has the first full presentation of the morning. His presentation is titled Enabling Operational Effectiveness for Decades to Come, which is also the theme of the conference.



Ray encourages attendees to interact with each other to acheive the IOSC mission: share collective successes and resolve challenges.



This year, Ray says he challenged Lockheed Martin presenters to give more detail about what the company does to enable operators to fly their aircraft.




The P-3 Orion has a broad operator community. More than 430 aircraft are still in service, with 21 operators in 17 nations. Each operator has different demands, depending on fleet size, so Lockheed Martin works to tailor offerings to operator requirements.



Lockheed Martin looks at three areas of support to sustain, refresh and support.



Ray's example of a customer that focuses on all three elements is U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Sustainment includes organizations, intermediate, embedded support and depot maintainence.



The program has invested in researching the benefits of adding winglets to the P-3. There will be more detail of research investments in later presentations.

Kicking Off Day 1

P-3 IOSC is kicking off this morning with lots of presentations including Mid-Life Upgrade Program, Technical Highlights and Airborne Mission Systems from Lockheed Martin. There will also be lots of discussion about sustainment, with speakers from Blue Aero, Rolls-Royce, IMP, OGMA, Australia Aerospace, JMSDF and Lockheed Martin.

Subcommittees will meet later this afternoon. There will be two subcommittees - Avionics/Mission Systems and Sustainment. We'll have more about the subcommittees and their progress later.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

2010 P-3 IOSC by the numbers

Here's what we're expecting for 2010 P-3 IOSC.

23rd annual P-3 International Operators Support Conference

428 pre-registered attendees, including

  • 125 military/government attendees
  • 64 Lockheed Martin employees
  • 241 contractors from other companies
12 countries represented (updated from 11)


32 exibitors


3 P-3 Orions at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga. plant


We'll kickoff tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. eastern time. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Welcome to P-3 IOSC 2010!

We've created this blog to share content, experiences and photos from the 2010 P-3 International Operators Support Conference.

If you're at the conference, please check the blog for information about conference sessions and activities.

If you aren't here in person, follow the blog for summaries of conference sessions.

Either way, post your comments and questions and we'll respond as quickly as we can.

Have a great conference!

The P-3 IOSC Team