Navy P-3Cs certify for RNP RNAV and Mode S

US Navy,

NAVAIR Patuxent River, MD: The P-3C Orion program recently became the first tactical aircraft to receive U.S. Navy certification for two major components of the Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management upgrade.

The upgrade, certified Nov. 26 here, is an airspace access requirement mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization.

With air traffic increasing worldwide, the CNS/ATM system has been developed to increase efficiency of assigned airspace and the level of safety. When combined, the upgrades will allow the airplane to fly on a more precise path.

“Upgrading to CNS/ATM will essentially put the aircraft in the HOV lane,” said Capt. Joe Rixey, Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft Program (PMA-290) manager here. “Instead of sitting in traffic or having to take longer routes, aircraft will reach their destination sooner, using less fuel and allowing for longer mission time. That transitions to a more successful mission; and with the hundreds of hours our P-3s are flying, it is imperative that we provide this technology to the Fleet.”

The P-3C aircraft received certifications for Mode Select and Required Navigation Performance Area Navigation. Mode S is a data-link signal that sends the aircraft’s identity information to the air traffic controllers in a shorter amount of time, reducing channel congestion over the airwaves. RNP RNAV uses the Global Positioning System as a primary means of navigation to seamlessly navigate the aircraft on its planned path without requiring it to zigzag from one ground-based navigation aid to the next. The U.S. Navy version of RNP RNAV uses the protected, secure, Precision Positioning Service GPS signal in order to operate in stressed environments in the battlefield as well as civil controlled airspace.

The PMA-290 P-3C program and Air Combat Electronics CNS/ATM program (PMA-209) joined forces in 2004 to support the transformation of Naval aviation to meet CNS/ATM requirements. As part of the tasking, PMA-209 was asked to identify the appropriate functionalities for each aircraft; provide common solutions that could be achieved with military avionics; develop system level functional requirements to support testing and certification; and to provide technical management of the integration into each Navy and Marine Corps’ tactical aircraft.

“The P-3C platform has really laid the foundation for all other Navy aircraft. This will save time and money as we move forward to upgrade the remaining Navy aircraft,” Chris Hoover, CNS/ATM team lead at PMA-209.

“This has been a tremendous NAVAIR and industry team effort,” said Dan Shannon, P-3 CNS/ATM team lead at PMA-290. “Our industry partners Rockwell Collins, Northrop Grumman, BAE and Innovative Solutions and Support, along with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Zero, Naval Air Warfare Center, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast and PMA-209 really came together to make this work. It was the hard work of an integrated team that allowed the P-3C to achieve this certification in such a short time. I am extremely proud that the work these teams have accomplished, which will also benefit the rest of the Navy and Marine Corp aircraft.”

The P-3C program completed their first software test flight in Sept. 2005. By August 2006, the CNS/ATM integration team had completed developmental testing and in early 2007, the data had been analyzed and the program was ready for Mode S and RNP RNAV certification.

The Navy has already completed CNS/ATM installations on four P-3Cs. All P-3Cs and EP-3s are expected to be upgraded by 2013. According to Shannon, the Navy is also providing the CNS/ATM solution to the U.S. Coast Guard and several foreign military sales customers.