Brazil presents it's new P-3B Orion »

By Leandro Maldonado
01 October 2011

At Salvador de Bahia, on 30 September 2011, personnel of 1°/7° GAv and their P-3BR gather around Minister of Defence Mr Celso Amorim, and FAB CoS, Lieutenant-General Juniti Saito, on the occasion of the arrival of the first fully updated P-3BR delivered from Airbus Military plant in Sevilla, Spain. © FAB

Salvador, 30 September 2011 –– The first P-3B Orion aircraft to be modified by Airbus Military for the Brazilian Air Force was christened today by Mr Celso Amorim, the Brazilian Minister of Defence,  in the presence of the Força Aérea Brasileira's Chief of Staff , Brigadeiro do Ar Juniti Saito, during an official ceremony at the Salvador air base (BASV) in Bahia, Brazil, where the aircraft will be operated by 1°/7° Grupo de Aviação. 

The aircraft is the first of a fleet of nine ex-US Navy Lockheed P-3A Orions which are undergoing a complete systems modernisation programme in Sevilla, Spain, to turn them into P-3AM models, with the installation of Airbus Military’s Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) for martime patrol and anti-submarine operations. As well as the FITS, the aircraft will benefit from a powerful new suite of mission sensors, communications systems and upgraded cockpit avionics. The engines are also updated and, depending on the condition of each individual aircraft, the structures are renovated to permit many more years of effective operation.

Two more aircraft will be delivered this year, with the remaining six aircraft to be delivered in 2012. The  P-3AMs will be used mainly in Maritime Patrol missions to protect the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), border control, to fight drug trafficking in the Amazon Region and for rescue missions, as well as anti-submarine missions and a range of civic operations. In FAB service, the aircraft have swapped the P-3AM (Airbus Military) designation for that of P-3BR, for Brazil.

Let's go back briefly on this programme's history. Almost ten years ago, in November 2002, under a USD423 million contract, EADS-CASA of Spain was awarded a contract  to upgrade eight former US Navy Lockheed P-3A Orions to P-3AM (for Airbus Modernised) standard for the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). All aircraft were part of a fleet of 12 ex-US Navy Lockheed Martin P-3A Orions. The P-3s were originally scheduled to be delivered straight to Spain for the upgrade from 2003, with the three remaining examples being delivered to Brazil for spares use.

However, final contract negotiations were only completed in early 2004 over final specifications for the upgrade. Final contract signature occurred on 29 April 2005 after long and protracted negotiations over the price of the upgrading operation.The first P-3A (serial BAF 7200, ex-US Navy BuNo 152180) flew on 20 December 2005 from the AMARC storage facility at Davis-Monthan, Arizona, departing for EADS-CASA's Getafe facility in Spain on 10 January 2006 for upgrade. Second example (BuNo 152174/FAB7201) followed on 22 May 2006.

Source: Airbus Military

back to news »