Pakistan Navy P-3C Orion Thread

[HRK]

with some certainty we can say that PN is having 8 upgraded operational P3C, not a bad number....

not necessarily ... keep it 7 as the status of one of the fuselage is still not clear

 

[Incog_nito]

I am happy to see that now we have P-3Cs that have dual FLIR systems on-board.

 

[HRK]

In this video cockpit of Pakistan Navy P-3C Orion is shown at 0:13 sec

 

[Aamir Hussain]

The optimum number that both PN and USN Consultant team on the ground recommended at the time Orion program was in full swing was a fleet of 12 ships. We are six ship short from the optimum number.

That is why, most probably, we are seeing gap fillers being procured in the shape of ATR a/c.

 

[Taha Samad]

The optimum number that both PN and USN Consultant team on the ground recommended at the time Orion program was in full swing was a fleet of 12 ships. We are six ship short from the optimum number.

That is why, most probably, we are seeing gap fillers being procured in the shape of ATR a/c.

Why six? Don't we have 7 orions?

 

[Aamir Hussain]

As far as i know, there are 6 operating a/c. I would be interested to see how we can come with the 7th bird.

 

[HRK]

As far as i know, there are 6 operating a/c. I would be interested to see how we can come with the 7th bird.

there is confusion regarding actual number of P-3C in operations as per some there are six
source are are available for both claims such as

Pakistan had already received five, of which two were destroyed in Karachi. Four more are being upgraded in the US before their transfer to Pakistan.
https://www.dawn.com/news/637421/us-to-replace-orion-planes-destroyed-at-pn-base

5 (including the earlier 2 P-3) - 2 (destroyed from the new acquired batch) = 3 remained
add 4 more which where receiving upgradation in USA at that time give us 7

 

[khanasifm]

It could be 5 or 6 are used fo operational use and remainder put in war reserve which means it’s available when needed

 

[GriffinsRule]

there is confusion regarding actual number of P-3C in operations as per some there are six
source are are available for both claims such as


5 (including the earlier 2 P-3) - 2 (destroyed from the new acquired batch) = 3 remained
add 4 more which where receiving upgradation in USA at that time give us 7

One of the two destroyed on the ground was from the original 3 Pakistan had ordered and was even painted in the Youngest Orion scheme a few years back.
PN started receiving 6 refurbished aircraft in batches of 2 form 2010 onward. These joined the 2 surviving aircraft from the original order. During the attack two were completely destroyed at the PN Base Mehran. There were some that were enroute back from the US at that time and other on the way there for upgrades. I think PN has only 6 Orions left but I am working off of memory right now. There was an article in AFM recently on PN. I will dig up which issue it was and see what numbers they reported

 

[Taha Samad]

there is confusion regarding actual number of P-3C in operations as per some there are six
source are are available for both claims such as


5 (including the earlier 2 P-3) - 2 (destroyed from the new acquired batch) = 3 remained
add 4 more which where receiving upgradation in USA at that time give us 7

One of the two destroyed on the ground was from the original 3 Pakistan had ordered and was even painted in the Youngest Orion scheme a few years back.
PN started receiving 6 refurbished aircraft in batches of 2 form 2010 onward. These joined the 2 surviving aircraft from the original order. During the attack two were completely destroyed at the PN Base Mehran. There were some that were enroute back from the US at that time and other on the way there for upgrades. I think PN has only 6 Orions left but I am working off of memory right now. There was an article in AFM recently on PN. I will dig up which issue it was and see what numbers they reported

It will be good if you could post the article you were mentioning. But here is what I could found:

Quote from article by Alan Warnes on August 28, 2017 (Alan Warnes is generally considered authentic source on matters related to Pakistan Military).

--

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Navy (PN) is flying seven P-3C-PUP (Pakistan Upgrade Programme) Orions from the navy’s Mehran airbase just outside Karachi. They can be armed with the Boeing AGM-84H SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile – Extended Response) satellite/infrared guided air-to-surface missile. Like its Indian counterparts, the Pakistan Navy’s MPA are on the lookout for submarines, chiefly Indian ones, but also perform overland reconnaissance missions supporting Pakistan Army counter-insurgency operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Area region of northeast Pakistan. The PN has also acquired three second-hand ATR 72 turboprop transports, and after several years of operations as utility aircraft the PN has contracted Rheinland Air Services in Germany to upgrade two of them to the MPA role. They will be modified with a Leonardo Seaspray-7300 X-band airborne surveillance radar integrated into Aerodata AG’s Aerodata mission system, by Rheinland Air Service at Monchengladbach, in Germany, and being configured for the ASW role with torpedoes and depth charges. Marshal Aerospace based in Cambridge in eastern England has been contracted to do the design work on the aircraft. The first one is expected to enter service later this year.

Both will be a welcome addition to the Pakistan Navy’s aviation fleet, which is still recovering from the loss of the two P-3Cs in May 2011, when insurgents attacked the Mehran airbase. The Pakistan Navy’s Commander Imran Qureshi told me in 2014, “the PN has to cover some 86000 square nautical miles (295,000 square kilometres) of the Indian Ocean.” This area of water includes the country’s EEZ. Pakistan’s waters are strategically important because as Cdr. Qureshi told the author “20 percent of the world’s petroleum passes through the Strait of Hormuz to the west of the Gulf of Oman every year.”

--

Source: https://asianmilitaryreview.com/2017/08/maritime-troubled-waters/

 

[HRK]

There was an article in AFM recently on PN. I will dig up which issue it was and see what numbers they reported

so any success ...???

 

[GriffinsRule]

so any success ...???

Can't seem to find the issue I read the article in -_-. Will post it once I find it

 

[khanasifm]

 

[Dazzler]

 

[Taha Samad]

View attachment 486747

View attachment 486748

A little correction the serials are from 80-89:

80 - Active - 2000s Order
81 - Store / Damaged in Mehran; Under Repair - Previously 25, 90s Order.
82 - Active - 90s Order - Previously 26, 90s Order.
83 - Crashed at Sea - Previously 27, 90s Order.
84 - Destroyed in Mehran - 2000s Order
85 - Active - 2000s Order
87 - Destroyed - 2000s Order
88 - Active - 2000s Order; delivered after Mehran Attack
89 - Active - 2000s Order; delivered after Mehran Attack

So its 6 x Active, 1 x Stored/Damaged Under Repair, 2 x Destroyed in Mehran, 1 x Crashed at Sea = Total 10.

80:



81(Stored/Damaged Under Repair):

Previously 87 was believed to be under repair but looks like it is 81


82:



83: Crashed at Sea in 1999

84 (Destroyed in Mehran):



85:



86: