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CP-140 Aurora
CP-140A Arcturus
CP-140 Aurora at Geilenkirchen AB, Germany
Role Maritime patrol aircraft
Manufacturer Lockheed
First flight 22 March 1979
Introduced 1980
Status Active
Primary user Canadian Forces
Number built 21 (18 CP140 + 3 CP140A)
Unit cost $24,905,000[1]
Developed from P-3 Orion

The Lockheed CP-140 Aurora is a Canadian Forces Air Command maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The aircraft is based on the Lockheed P-3 Orion airframe, but mounts the electronics suite of the S-3 Viking. In Greek mythology, Aurora is the Greek goddess who restored Orion's eyesight, and also the Aurora Borealis are the "northern lights" that are prominent over northern Canada and the Arctic Ocean.

The CP-140A Arcturus is a related variant used primarily for pilot training and coastal surface patrol missions.

Contents

Design and development

The CP-140 Aurora is virtually identical externally to the Lockheed P-3C Orion predecessor, but is different internally, using two sets of mission systems that were first installed in yet another Lockheed anti-submarine warfare aircraft, the carrier-based S-3A Viking. The aircraft's sensors are primarily intended for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) work but are also capable of maritime surveillance, counter-drug and search-and-rescue missions. The CP-140 is Canada's only strategic Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, conducting long range missions over land, water and littoral areas. These missions are flown in support of CANCOM, CEFCOM, CANSOFCOM, the RCMP, and several other federal government departments.

Operational history

CP-140 Aurora

CP-140s and Korean P-3s at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base in Hawaii.

The aircraft were acquired in the early 1980s to replace the CP-107 Argus and to further support Canada's anti-submarine warfare mission obligations under NATO for the northwest Atlantic sector. However, since the end of the Cold War, they had been used primarily in coastal surveillance and sovereignty patrols by providing an all-weather mission surveillance platform. Increasingly as the CP-140 moves into the 21st century it is employed for domestic and international surveillance by CANCOM for security, counter-terrorism and smuggling, as well as to monitor foreign fishing fleets off Canada's coasts. CP-140s have also been deployed on operations such as Operation Assistance and Operation Apollo.

CP-140A Arcturus

In 1991, Lockheed shut down its production lines in Burbank, California for the P-3 Orion, which shares the same airframe with the CP-140. Three surplus airframes on hand were purchased by Air Command but delivered without the anti-submarine fit. These three aircraft were designated the CP-140A Arcturus and are used primarily for pilot training and coastal surface patrol missions.

Lacking the expensive, heavy and sensitive anti-submarine warfare as well as the anti-surface warfare fittings of the CP-140 Aurora, the Arcturus is more fuel efficient and is used for crew training duties (such as touch-and-go landing practice), general maritime surface reconnaissance (detecting drug operations, smuggling of illegal immigrants, fisheries protection patrols, pollution monitoring, etc), search-and-rescue assistance and Arctic sovereignty patrols. The Arcturus does possess a superior AN/APS-507 surface search radar, incorporating modern functions such as track-while-scan that the Aurora's AN/APS-506 radar lacks but does not have an integrated mission computer, or mission systems. It does, however, maintain the same military communications suite as the CP-140 Aurora.[citation needed]

All three aircraft are based at 14 Wing, one of which is currently being used for technician training with the school on base CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia. The CP-140As were scheduled to be deactivated in 2004, but are still very much in active duty as of 2010.[citation needed]

Operational Deployments

When the CP-140 Aurora entered service as a replacement for the CP-107 Argus, it also assumed its main Cold War mission of hunting Soviet submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific. Short deployments to Alaska (Adak), Hawaii (Kaneohe Bay), Iceland (Keflavik), the UK (St Mawgan and Kinloss), and Norway (Andoya) were the norm. With the scaling back of the USSR (Russia's) submarine activities, deployments have included OP SHARPGUARD (Yugoslavia blockade), OP SIRIUS (Mediterranean Patrols), OP APOLLO (Persian Gulf region), and counter-narcotics patrols in the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific.[2] Through all this, patrols of the Canadian Arctic continue to take advantage of the airframe's unique abilities.[3]

Aurora Incremental Modernization Project

The Aurora Incremental Modernization Project, initiated in 1998 to upgrade electronics of the Aurora fleet was halted by the government on 20 September 2007 to evaluate whether the aging fleet should continue to be upgraded or replaced by more modern aircraft.[4] On 18 December 2007 the Department of National Defence rescinded this work suspension and will continue with modernization, which includes upgrading computer, navigation, communication and radar systems as well as making structural improvements to ten of eighteen aircraft. The intent of the modernization project is to "keep the aircraft safe and operationally viable until 2020.”[5][6].

AIMP is currently divided into three 'blocks'. Block I is complete and concentrated on the replacement of unsupportable systems. Block II brought a glass cockpit with the Navigation and Flight Instruments (NFI) component and a complete replacement of the communications suite. Block II is nearing completion and should be complete in early 2011. Block III is a wholesale replacement of the aircraft's sensors and mission computer.

Aurora Structural Life Extension Program

The Aurora Structural Life Extension Project (ASLEP) is proceeding with 10 of the 18 Auroras scheduled to receive new wings and the replacement of key structural components. The complete ASLEP solution replaces the aircrafts' outer wings, center wing lower section and horizontal stabilizers with new production components. All fatigue-life limiting structures on the aircraft are replaced with enhanced-design components and improved corrosion-resistant materials that will greatly reduce maintenance costs over the aircraft's service life. This program is expected to extend the CP140s' service life by 15,000 flight hours per airframe.[7]

Operators

 Canada

Specifications (CP-140)

General characteristics

  • Crew: Mission minimum 8, typically 12 to 15
  • Capacity: 20
  • Length: 35.61 m (116 ft 10 in)
  • Wingspan: 30.38 m (99 ft 8 in)
  • Height: 10.49 m (34 ft 5 in)
  • Loaded weight: 27,892 kg (61,362 lb)
  • Powerplant: 4× Allison T-56-A-14-LFE turboprop engines, (4600) each

Performance

Armament

  • Mk 46 Mod V torpedoes, signal chargers, smoke markers, illumination flares
  • air-to-surface rockets or conventional bombs can be fitted after a minor retrofit. Virtually any armament cleared for use on the P-3 series can be fitted for use based on airframe similarities.

Avionics

See also

Related development

Comparable aircraft

Related lists

References

  1. ^ CP-140 Aurora
  2. ^ http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/v2/equip/cp140/index-eng.asp
  3. ^ http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/v2/page-eng.asp?id=13
  4. ^ CBC.ca:Ottawa halts $1.6B upgrade of patrol aircraft
  5. ^ Government of Canada News Centre: The Future of the CP-140 Aurora
  6. ^ Canadian Naval Review: CP-140 Aurora Modernization.
  7. ^ http://www.casr.ca/doc-acan-aurora-aslep.htm
  • Winchester, Jim, ed. "Lockheed CP-140 Aurora." Modern Military Aircraft (Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-640-5.

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