Rewinged Orion Airborne

Posted 19 July 2010

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Photo by John Rossino

The first P-3 Orion to receive the Mid-Life Upgrade, or MLU, modifications was flown for the first time on 19 July 2010 from Lockheed Martin in Greenville, South Carolina. On board was a Lockheed Martin aircrew consisting of James Daniel (pilot), Dick Schroeder (copilot), Nick Blehm (flight engineer), and Maurice “Frenchie” Levesque (scanner). This Airborne Early Warning aircraft, without its familiar radar rotodome, was redelivered to US Customs and Border Protection in ceremonies on 13 July. The P-3 MLU program replaces the outer wings, center wing lower surface, horizontal stabilizer, and horizontal stabilizer leading edges on the Orion.

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