End game for the Orion
South Carolina. During 2009-13
the entire Orion fleet (both P-3C
and P-3N) underwent the Aircraft
Service Life Extension Program
(ASLEP) upgrade which provided
each example with new wings
and horizontal stabilisers, adding
another 15-20 years to the structural
airframe lifetime. ASLEP was also
contracted to Lockheed Martin and
was carried out in Halifax, Canada.
The squadron is tasked with
maritime patrol as well as
intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Typical operational tasks include
ASW, anti-surface warfare,
electronic intelligence, search and
rescue and fisheries inspection. An
important task for 333 Skvadron
is to monitor Russian naval units
operating out of the large Murmansk
naval base, and many hours are
spent patrolling over international
waters of the strategically important
Iceland-Norway gap, as well as
north of the Kola Peninsula.
The Cold War was a busy period
for 333 Skvadron, with significant
Soviet naval activity in the
North Atlantic and Barents Sea.
Contacts with Soviet submarines
or surface warships in international
waters were documented and
reported on a daily basis. Most
of the contacts took place under
friendly circumstances, but some
became more intense. Examples
of these included the detection of
unidentified submarines operating
within Norwegian national waters,
even into the deep narrow fjords
along Norway’s coastline. Several
times during the 1980s Norwegian
naval ships and 333 Skvadron
Orions chased unidentified
submarines in Sognefjorden,
Hardangerfjorden and Tysfjorden.
The P-3s dropped sonobuoys in
the fjords, tracking the unidentified
underwater activity, and depth
charges were dropped on the
objects by both Norwegian Navy
vessels and Orions. Positive
proof of the nature and origin of
this underwater activity was never
obtained, but the incidents were
classified as probable submarines.
The incidents stopped after
the fall of the Soviet Union.
Main picture: The 333 Skvadron Orions carry
the names of Norwegian arctic explorers or
other signifi cant people from the unit’s past.
This is P-3C 3297 ‘Jøssing’, named after the
fjord where the 1940 Altmark Incident took
place, and a term for an anti-Nazi fi ghter.
Jan Jørgensen
Right: A standard P-3 crew for operational
missions consists of ten crew, comprising two
pilots, one fl ight engineer, two navigators,
two sonar operators, one radar operator, one
ESM operator and one weaponry/ordnance
operator. Jan Jørgensen
http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #359 FEBRUARY 2018 // 57