Monday, October 24, 2011

Lockheed Martin Greenville P-3 Sustainment

Kimberly Goff, Senior Program Manager at Lockheed Martin Greenville Operations in South Carolina, is our next speaker.

Greenville is a key part of the P-3 program and reports to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Marietta. The Greenville team is dedicated to the sustainment of the P-3. It is a full service major repair and overhaul facility with 282 acres and 16 hangars that can accomodate up to 31 P-3s.

Have performed more than 180 Phased Depot Maintenance cycles.

Long-term sustainment is key to P-3 operations. Many of the P-3 Mid Life Update kits are installed in Greenville using OEM re-mate procedures.

Greenville has delivered three MLU aircraft and currently have six in work.

The Greenville site has extensive back shop operations, including a machine shop, tooling and parts fabrication, wire shop, hydraulics, wheels and tires, etc. Greenville also has an extensive kitting operations where the kit is put together on a white board that is shrink wrapped so all the parts are presented to the mechanic in a logical order.

A key takeaway is the Greenville has on-site capabilities to restore excess defense articles -- like P-3s stored in the desert -- to like-new condition.

CP-140 Update

We missed this one earlier, but Lt. Col. John MacCaull, the Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Weapon System Manager and co-host for the conference gave an update on his Air Force's activities with their CP-140 aircraft.

He opened with the biggest news -- that Canada had returned to its roots with the name change back to the Royal Canadian Air Force.

A recent success was overland targeting for Canadian CF-18 fighters in Libya. CP-140 crews have flown more than 200 missions totalling more than 2000 hours.

Another initiative has been Arctic Semi-Prepared Runway Operations to further extend the reach of the CP-140 fleet. John noted that Canada is as high in area as it is wide and crews began an experiment last March to operate from remote strips at Alert and Resolute Bay in the far north of Canada.


Canada has recently shifted its support concept to more of a contractor-based system. IMP and L-3 are the main equipment and airframe contractors, with Standard Aero handing the engine support.

The RCAF has 18 aircraft and is now starting the Block III upgrade program, which includes data management, communications, and systems upgrades. Over the next two-to-three years, the fleet will neck down to 10 fully upgraded aircraft with one ground trainer.

We're on break now, but will be back in just a few minutes.

T56 Engine Series 3.5 Enhancement Program

Christopher Culp, the Rolls-Royce representative, is our next speaker and he is talking on the T56 engine Series 3.5 Enhancement program.

The program began with the US Navy looking for better fuel efficiency for the T56 engines on their C-130 aircraft.

The 3.5 upgrade doesn't require any aircraft interface change and includes several low risk technology upgrades.

Benefits include specific fuel consuption, improved turbine life, improved hot day takeoff performance, and less impact to the environment. SFC is up to 7.9% improvement. Environmental impact includes a reduction in 313 metric tons of CO2.

Development of the T56 3.5 is well underway. Rolls-Royce is working with the FAA on certifying a commercial derivative. A contract for a single-engine flight test demonstration was just awarded to RR by the US Air Force last Friday. Testing will take place next year, including a 400 hour endurance test.

Christopher noted that the question that he gets asked most often is "What about the smoke?" and the answer is the 3.5 Update, through the addition of parts and new technology, smoke will be significantly reduced.

P-3 MLU Overview

Mark Jarvis, the Lockheed Martin director of P-3 Production and Design gave a status update on the P-3 Mid Life Update program. He noted that some additional center wing planks have been added to the basic MLU kit. These planks will be retrofitted on existing kits and standard equipment on future kits. A couple of other parts have also been added to the core kit.

A total of 27 MLU kits have been delivered to far, with kits delivered to all five customers -- US Customs and Border Protection, Norway, the US Navy, Canada, and Taiwan. Mark noted that Customs now has three aircraft back in service. Norway returned its first aircraft back into service just a few months ago. The US Navy has received 10 kits so far.

2011 IOSC Opening Remarks

Ray Burick, Lockheed Martin P-3 Programs and Greenville Operations vice president welcomed the more than 450 attendees to the 24th annual P-3 International Operators Support Conference.

Ray talked briefly about the P-3 ER -- the proposed upgrade to the P-3 with winglets. There will more to come on this program later in the conference.

He also mentioned that Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce had officially announced the T56 3.5 engine development partnership. Rolls-Royce representatives are scheduled to talk more about this powerplant upgrade later on.

The Desert To Delivery video -- taking retired P-3s out of storage and returning them to service with the P-3 Mid Life Upgrade kit -- was premiered. We'll try to have a link to this video up shortly.

Lt. Col. John MacCaul, the Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Weapon System Manager is next up.

Welcome to 2011 P-3 IOSC Conference!

We've created this blog to share content, experiences and photos from the 2011 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

Friday, October 21, 2011

2011 P-3 IOSC begins Monday, Oct. 24