Australian Department of Defence, The full fleet of 18 upgraded AP-3C Orions has been successfully delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Defence Minister Robert Hill announced today.
The last of the upgraded AP-3C Orion aircraft have been delivered from the production facility at Avalon airfield in Victoria and will be based at RAAF Edinburgh in South Australia. A ceremony to mark the delivery of the full fleet has been held at Australian International Airshow at Avalon in Victoria today.
“The upgraded Orions are providing an improved surveillance capability to the Australian Defence Force and currently providing invaluable support to the Coalition Forces in the Middle East Area of Operations,” Senator Hill said.
“The new information systems and advanced sensors on the AP-3C Orions provide a good basis for establishing the aircraft as an important element in our future network warfare capability.
“The project was initiated back in the 1990s, primarily to upgrade the avionics on the P-3C Orion fleet. It has been a very complex project providing leading edge technology to Defence's number one surveillance and response aircraft.”
An AP-3C prototype was produced in Greenville, Texas by L3 Communications (then known as E-Systems); with the remainder of the fleet production completed under sub-contract to Australian industry at Avalon Airfield.
Tenix Defence eventually took over the production in mid 2003 and completed the production of the final ten aircraft on schedule. BAE Systems was also involved in the many sub systems including simulation and software development facilities at RAAF Edinburgh.
Australian companies will continue to be involved in ongoing maintenance and logistic support of the AP-3C fleet under a proposed alliance arrangement currently being developed.
“Experience gained in this project has helped secure long term Australian industry involvement in the ongoing support and further enhancement of the Orion fleet,” Senator Hill said.
“This project is an example of how Australian industry combined with international manufacturers can deliver a leading edge capability for the ADF.”
