MARIÏIME PATROT AVIATION The Watching Wolves oÍ Portugal by Marco P.J. Borst The Portuguese Air Force has tors were responsible Íbr the early Many operationai systems on been flying the P-3P Orion for almost training courses. In the meantime board the P-3P are similar to those on twelve years now. Despite the fact that Lockheed at Burbank was modiÍying the P-3C-IIr/: Orion variant as used by Esquadra 601 "Lobos" (Wolves) had to one of the P-38 Orions to a new stan- the US and Netherlands navies. but the face the lack of Maritime Patrol expe- dard to meet the Portuguese require- cabin layout ofthe aircraÍ1 is still based rience in the early years of their P-3 ments. It was not before March 1986 on the P-3B airÍiame. which means operations, the squadron developed that the current Orion squadron was that all mission stations are situated on into one of NAIO's most experienced established, and the Íirst so-called P-3P the left side of the cabin. From the squadrons. Orion arrived at the squadron in front to the back these are Communications (station 7), Radar and Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) sensor (station 8), Electronic Surveillance Measurements (ESM) and Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) sensors (station 8a), Navigation (station 9), Tactical Coordinator (TACCO, station l0) and Acoustics (stations 1l and 12). Crew workload has been better divided. since operating the non lcoustic sen\or\ is the responsibility of two crew mem- bers instead of one. Also navigation and communications have been split Between 1954 and 1960 the Air Ar.rgust 1988. Only one of the six air- into two diÍÍèrent tasks. Force had two squadrons (Esquadra 6l craft was modified by Lockheed. The Esquadra 601 is a rather small and Esquadra 62) with Lockheed PV2 other Íive were leworked at the squadron. In November 1997, reorga- Harpoons. These were used mainly as Oficinas Gerais de Material nizations in the Portuguese Air Force bombers Íbr oper:ations in Portugal's Aeronautico (OGMA) facilities at command structure led to the integra- African colonies. In 1960 the Alverca AB in Portugal. Operational tion of a maintenance group into the Harpoons were replaced by Lockheed training of mission crews was super- squadron. Maintenance personnel now P2V-5 Neptunes which remained in vised by Lockheed instructors, and report to the squadron commander. service untilr 1917. Both the Harpoons took one and a half years. In mid 1989, Before the reorganization they reported and the Neptunes were former Royal Esquadra 601 reached operational sta- to the base commander. EsqLradra 601 Netherlands Navy aircraft. Prior to the tus with the P-3P; Portugal was back in "Lobos" (Wolves) has 104 personnel arrival of the Orions in 1988. the the Maritime Patrol business. Since the including 46 maintenance technicians. Portuguese Air Force did not have any introduction of the Orion. the aircraft The goal is to have six operationai Maritime Patrol aircraft in its invento- have flown more then 3.600 missions crews available but at the moment 601 ry. Search and Rescue or coastal patrol with over 15,400 flight hours in has only 3Vz crew. One of the six missions were conducted with C-l3t) Portuguese service. Orions is in permanent storage (but Hercules or CASA 212 Aviocars. The Portuguese government rec- ognized the lack of a Maritime Patrol platÍbrm, and ordered six former Royal Australian Air Force P-38 Orions fiom Lockheed in 1985. These aircraÍi were traded in by the RAAF when the latter purchased ten new P-3C Orions. In rnid October 1985 the first two Orions were r*i:r:rr.::.r:.rr.:i:r.r:&ièi.:ir:itaruir:rr: Íèrried from RAAF Edinburgh tcr Montijo AB in Portugal. Almost imme- diately these aircraÍt were used Íbr flight-crew training. Lockheed instruc- P-3P over the Atlantic (PAF) 4 MARITIME PATROL AVIATION are dropped from the aircraft's participation in Operation Sharp weapons bay, a much more accurate Guard, the control of the UN embargo method. Every kit contains one l0-per- against former Yugoslavia, out of NAS son dinghy and a survival pack. During Sigonella (Sicily) between July 1992 1997, Esquadra 601 f'lew I l3 hours in and February 1996. Although the support of SAR operations. Portuguese took part in the operations P-3P Tactical Cell (PAF) will return into service this year) and usually there is one aircraÍï in Scheduled Depot Level maintenance (SDLM) with OGMA, while one or Unipac SAR Kits in the P-3P weapons bay (Marco Borst) two eircral-l lre in phase inspeclion at Of course the Lobos are regular with only one aircraÍt and one crew, the squadron's own facilities at participants in NATO exercises like they were responsible Íbr 11.5olo of the Montijo AB. This leaves two or three DogÍish, Strong Resolve and Tapon. total number of Maritime Patrol mis- aircraft available for operational duties. Further operational training is done in sions. This made them number two of The squadron is flying about 1200 cooperation with the STANAVFOR- the operation, immediately behind the Í1ight hours every year. LANT fleet while flight-crew training US Navy which was responsible for As with any other Orion operator is done at the Dutch P-3C-III/: flight the greater part of the Maritime Patrol Anti Submarine WarÍàre (ASW) is still simulator at RNLNAS Valkenburg. missions with 637o. The Royal the main mission of Esquadra 601. Besides operations from Montijo, 601 Netherlands Navy (taking part with Secondary missions are Anti SurÍàce is also operating Íiom Forward two aircraft) was third with 9olo. Warfare (ASuW), Search and Rescue Operation Locations such as Lajes Numbers and hours presented by (SAR), mining, coastal patrol, environ- (Azores) and Ovar near Porto. These Esquadra 601 at the end of Sharp mental control and (although only once deployments usually last seven to ÍiÍ-- Guard are impressive: they flew 576 or twice a year) counter-dr-ug opera- teen days. out of 607 planned missions (94E;). tions. The mosl imporlunl peuce time A very important period in the During these 576 missions they logged mission is SAR. The area of responsi- short history of the squadron was their 5,823 flight hours of which 3,712 bility for the Lobos is very large. Whenever a SAR mission has to be conducted in the far end ofthe area the P-3P will Íly to the Azores for refu- elling. From there the Orion has an endurance ofjust three hours on \tat ion in order to be able to reach the Azores again. Until 1998 Esquadra 601's Orions carried MA-l SAR kits which contained two 7-person dinghies and two survival packs. These MA-l kits uere dropped l-rom the main entrance door, which required Ílying at low level to be able to drop the kit as near to the people in the water as possible. During the Summer of 1998 the squadron received new Unipac SAR kits which Sensor I & 2 in battle condition on P-3P (Marco Borst) MARITIME PATROT AVIATION hours were on-station time. P-3P crews tical companies that might be interest- igation, AGM-65F Maverick missiles investigated 12,188 contacts. It may be ed in the contract. Following the capabilities and additional Electro- clear that Operation Sharp Guard was responses to this RFI (Request For Optical and Image systems like the the ultimate chance for the Lobos to lnlbrmation). Porlugel expects lo issue FLIR Systems "Star SaÍire" or gain a lot of operational experience in the RFP (Request For Proposals) dur- Wescam's "Model 20". Portugal rnay a very short period. Portuguese pilots ing 2000. LECIP is divided into two benel-it from recent experiences on who took part in Sharp Guard logged sub-prograrns: Life Extension and extending the airframe's service life of 500 - 600 flight hours each during this Mission Systems Update. Under the the New Zealand's P-3K, and on sys- tems upgrade of various operators, like i...irll and 'n;i{i- US Navy's AlP, Dutch P-3C r.r,..Ë is ::. ]s Australian AP-3C. When LECIP : '..llil on a safe i, r.ir.bi completed the Lobos can rely . 1r,r.. $. and modern platÍbrm for continued operations in the new century. - ' l::l:: Special thanks to: Maj. Baros Ferreira (XO Esq60J ) Capt. Antonio Eugenio (MSC/Esq60l ) Personnel Esq601 + About the Author P-:P u, Ai.buse 6, Montijo Portugal (Marco Borst) operation, while navigators logged 900 LiÍè Extension program airframe struc- hours each! tural components and systems identi- The squadron can rely on the Íied as having potential fbr signiÍïcant (MSC) at irnpact on Íïture aircraft availability Mission Support Center Marco P.J. Borsí mode it his hobhy' due lo excessive lime/cost to replrir are Montijo AB. Although it is indepen- to clescribe the history oJ the Lockheed dent Íiom the squadron, MSC person- likely to be replaced. lt is expected that McLrtin P-3 Orbn. As u Ji'eelance .jour- augment crews on structural improvements will inclucle nel Írequently 601's ncLli,st, he hns visitetl severol P-3 operttt- the replacement of the wings and stabiliz- operational missions, usually in íng sqtradrons, antJ htt,s wrilten several lines the RNZAF role of navigators or TACCO's. The ers along the of urticles on the P-3 Orion. He co-oper- USN "Kestrel" project which is currently MSC is comparable to the cLtes with Jnop Dubbeldtun in the P-3 (TSC). being carried out by Hawker Pacific Tactical Support Centers Orion Re.setrrch Group. In 1997, the,- near Sydney, Australia.