P3 Life Extension Program

The P3 Orion has been used for many roles which include surveillance of shipping and submarines. The P3 fleet comprises 18 aircraft, all based at RAAF Edinburgh in South Australia. Maintenance and modification work is carried out at RAAF Base Richmond in NSW and RAAF Base Edinburgh. The Richmond site is the prime site for deeper level maintenance R3 servicing which includes a strip and repaint and is completed approximately every 5-6 years. The R3 takes approximately 3 months. Richmond also completes intermediate level maintenance R2 servicing which takes approximately 25 days. Edinburgh is the home of the R2 servicing and the block upgrade program prototyping which is there to ensure the platform remains viable until its planned withdrawal date. Both sites will implement block upgrade production.