For the U.S. Navy’s maritime patrol community, the halcyon days of hunting Soviet submarines are gone. Over the past several years, however, P-3 Orions and their crews have become indispensable parts of the war on terrorism and U.S. military operations on land as well as at sea. From flying missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom to nighttime surveillance over Afghanistan, P-3s demonstrate they remain frontline combatants.
The U.S. Navy's P-3 Orion has been impressing operational commanders since the conflict in the Balkans, but the aircraft has emerged from the antiterrorist operations in Afghanistan and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq as an indispensable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance asset and as the platform of choice for ground commanders throughout the Persian Gulf area of operations.
In the Afghan war, Operation Enduring Freedom, P-3s performed a myriad of traditional roles and unconventional missions. Within days of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, P-3s already in the Gulf region began littoral surveillance missions to provide operational commanders with a clearer picture of enemy positions within Afghanistan. This support was key to the success of the first strikes launched by the United States and its allies on 7 October 2001. Navy P-3s also participated in the initial night of attacks, reportedly firing AGM-84H Stand-off Land Attack Missiles-Extended Range (SLAM-ER) against Taliban and al Qaeda targets. Later it was reported that the missiles hit a number of buildings and a SA-13 missile control center. P-3s subsequently flew post-strike battle-damage assessment missions to provide operational commanders the options they needed in planning new strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda positions.
Once total air supremacy over Afghanistan was established by the U.S.-led coalition air forces on 17 October 2001, Navy P-3s began overland surveillance flights to give ground commanders a round-the-clock view of U.S. special forces ground operations. In the subsequent battle for Tora Bora, the Navy's Orions provided real-time reconnaissance of cave complexes where the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were hiding. They transmitted real-time imagery to operational commanders coordinating U.S. Air Force B-52 and fighter aircraft strikes on the caves along the rugged mountainsides. Simultaneously, they also flew target-recognition missions in other regions of Afghanistan in an effort to locate senior al Qaeda members seeking to escape over the border to Pakistan.
One of the new unconventional missions that earned the P-3 so much acclaim by operational commanders in Afghanistan was force protection. This encompassed the transmission of real-time imagery to ground task force commanders. When the Marines first arrived in country and set up forward-operating bases, P-3s provided overhead imagery that allowed the Marines to see well beyond their positions—giving early warning against Taliban attacks. These and other missions (many of them classified) established the P-3 as the key surveillance asset for U.S. ground commanders in Afghanistan.
Even as P-3s were providing support to overland operations in Afghanistan, simultaneously they continued to support coalition maritime interdiction operations and carrier battle group protection at sea. The interdiction mission tasked the P-3 with the surveillance of millions of square miles of ocean to detect, investigate, and target suspicious merchant vessels.
Continued Afghanistan Operations
In the months since Tora Bora, P-3s have continued to support allied operations in Afghanistan, taking a pivotal role in Operation Anaconda, the largest land battle in the campaign thus far.
Flying over the sharp ridges of the Shah-e-kot Valley in eastern Afghanistan, P-3s carried Navy SEALs, who directed special operations forces on the ground during battles, ambushes, and clashes with suspected al Qaeda fighters in the mountains. The combination helped pinpoint enemy troops in their cave hideouts with the planes' infrared sensors and cameras. These positions then were relayed to special operations forces on the ground as well as strike aircraft. Some of the P-3s carried their own SLAM and Maverick missiles to provide additional firepower.
P-3s also provided "over the hill" reconnaissance to special operations troops. Although Predator unmanned aerial vehicles got all the attention in the media as the principal surveillance aircraft over Afghanistan, their live video feed was not available to ground troops and special forces. The P-3's surveillance/reconnaissance video, on the other hand, can be downlinked directly to ground forces.
In the latest operations in Afghanistan—Alamo Sweep, Champion Strike, Snipe, Mongoose, Desert Lion, Eagle Fury, and the Battle of Spin Boldak—P-3s again provided intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to support Marine and Army forces, British Commandos, and Navy SEALs.
In Alamo Sweep, conducted in the mountains of Paktia Province in southeastern Afghanistan, P-3s for the first time supported regular Army troops searching for the location of fugitive al Qaeda terrorists and their senior leaders. In renewed fighting in the Deh Rawud area of Uruzgan Province, at the Army's forward- operating base Salerno near the Pakistan border, Taliban and al Qaeda forces have been conducting hit-and-run attacks on the base and slipping back over the border into Pakistan.
U.S. and allied forces taking part in Operation Champion Strike have been combing the Afghan countryside disarming the populace and searching for fugitive al Qaeda terrorist hideouts. In Operation Snipe, British Commandos and U.S. and other allied forces have been coordinating operations along the Pakistan boarder with Pakistan Army troops.
More recently, Navy P-3s supported more than 300 U.S. special forces in the fighting in and around Spin Boldak in southern Afghanistan. The Spin Boldak fighting has been the largest combat action in Afghanistan since Operation Anaconda in 2002. U.S. forces located a large group of rebel fighters high in the mountains, as well as a major supply cache in a cave complex.
In Operation Mongoose, the 82nd Airborne searched and cleared caves in the Adi Ghar Mountains while fending off attacks by bands of al Qaeda and Taliban rebels. In the Sami Ghar Mountains, P-3s supported allied troops during air assaults into the area. Large caches of rocket-propelled grenades, antitank mines, and mortars were found. In Operation Desert Lion, in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, P-3s supported air assaults by the U.S. Army's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment that killed a number of enemy guerrillas and found large weapon caches. Eagle Fury was a similar operation conducted in Bamiyan Province in the central mountains.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
In the months and weeks leading up to the recent conflict with the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, Navy and coalition maritime patrol aircraft stepped up their pressure on Iraq's maritime commerce in the northern Persian Gulf. Navy P-3s doubled their interdiction missions in Operation Southern Watch to stem the flow of illegal cargoes of contraband oil and dates (pound for pound worth more than the oil) that funded the regime.
P-3s also were tasked with battle-group protection missions and prewar reconnaissance and surveillance. They located and tracked hundreds of vessels suspected of smuggling or laying sea mines. They provided real-time imagery of the area in and along the coast of Iraq and up the inland waterways toward the port of Umm Qasr, gathering intelligence on Iraqi troop positions, military installations, and Silkworm missile sites.
Late on 20 March 2003, after the attempted precision decapitation attack on the Iraqi regime, the I Marine Expeditionary Force crossed the Iraqi border with Kuwait and began what was described as a "steel wave," rushing through southern Iraq toward Baghdad. At 15,000 feet above the Marines, Navy P-3s provided force protection in support of their speedy ground advance.
Pioneered during the operations in Afghanistan, P-3s provided the Marines with real-time reconnaissance of what was moving beyond their positions and what was lying in wait for them in the darkness. As the Marines pushed on, the high-flying P-3s reported on Iraqi forces ahead and provided targeting information that the Marines used to attack targets with surface-to-surface missiles and strike aircraft. P-3s located key bridges, which the Marines captured before they could be destroyed, and Iraqi armor and vehicles lying in wait. The Orions also reconnoitered a number of the military bases and airfields that ring Baghdad.
In other areas of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a P-3 supported special forces operations on the coast. As the I Marine Expeditionary Force breached the berms at the Iraq-Kuwait border, a P-3 supported raids on the Kaabot and Mabot oil terminal platforms in the northern Persian Gulf and an air assault on an associated oil pumping terminal at the tip of the Al Faw Peninsula. Securing the platforms was critical to prevent Iraqi sabotage, such as that perpetrated in the first Gulf War.
The P-3 initially provided reconnaissance of the oil facilities and platforms and then transmitted real-time surveillance video of the special forces operations carried out by SEALs and Royal Marines back to operational commanders in their headquarters. The mission was a success, securing the oil platforms and neutralizing the Iraqi forces at the pumping facility before equipment could be destroyed. It later was reported that the two oil platforms had been prepared for sabotage.
During this special operation to secure the oil facilities, the P-3 detected, identified, and monitored a number of Iraqi Navy patrol boats in the vicinity. The P-3 reported the contacts and shadowed the patrol boats throughout the raid until such time as a strike package, a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship, arrived to attack and destroy the boats with precision-guided ordnance.
Simultaneously, further inland, another Navy P-3 supported other U.S. special forces and Marine elements in an operation to secure the Rameilah oil fields in southern Iraq. The P-3 provided the initial reconnaissance of the oil fields and detected a number of oil wells on fire. The coalition immediately dispatched a Marine special operations force to secure the oil fields. The P-3's real-time video was transmitted back to Fifth Fleet headquarters, where the battle was monitored and the impact to the environment from the burning wells was evaluated. Its should be noted that the first U.S. combat casualty of the conflict occurred during this particular operation.
The support given by Navy P-3s, using a mix of high-resolution infrared imagery, long-range electro-optical video, and inverse synthetic aperture/synthetic aperture radar targeting information, provided the operational commanders with tremendous flexibility.
Coalition Maritime Patrol Aircraft Operations
Working alongside U.S. Navy P-3s in Iraq were small contingents of coalition maritime patrol aircraft from Australia and the United Kingdom. Their missions were varied and supported wide-ranging operations throughout the Iraqi theater.
Australia made a significant contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom, dubbed Operation Falconer by the Australian contingent. Among the ships, aircraft, and troops sent to support operations in Iraq were two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-3C Orions and 150 personnel from 92 Wing, RAAF Base Edinburg.
These RAAF P-3s distinguished themselves by providing situational awareness and vital information on Iraqi operations on the battlefield to coalition air, ground, and naval forces. Prior to the beginning of the conflict, RAAF P-3s located and monitored Iraqi forces in the areas adjacent to the Iraqi border with Kuwait and in and around the Al Faw Peninsula. The Australian P-3s continued their reconnaissance and surveillance as hostilities began, providing coalition commanders with a real-time view of the battlefield and Iraqi positions, troop movements, and naval deployments along the main inland waterway leading past the port of Umm Qasr toward the city of Basra, where Australian ground forces operated alongside British Army units.
The RAAF P-3s, equipped with new electro-optics and self-protection suites, provided targeting information directly to U.S. carrier aircraft making strikes into southern Iraq. The Australian P-3s also provided reconnaissance and targeting information for Australian and British naval gunfire attacks on Iraqi littoral areas. Like their U.S. counterparts, the Australian P-3s also monitored and targeted numerous Iraqi patrol boats and small dhows that choked the inland waterway.
In sum, The RAAF P-3s flew more than 25 sorties in support of more than 100 operations during the first 30 days of the conflict. Most missions were 10 or 12 hours long. Coalition commanders were very pleased with the support given by the Royal Australian Air Force, which provided critical real-time information that was absolutely essential to coalition success on the battlefield. Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard B. Myers subsequently praised the RAAF's operations in the Gulf.
The United Kingdom also provided maritime patrol aircraft to the region. The Royal Air Force committed several Nimrod MR2s to Operation Telic, the British operational name for its Iraqi Freedom participation.
British Nimrods patrolled the northern Persian Gulf and along the littoral waters around the Al Faw Peninsula for months prior to the conflict. The Nimrods were tasked with conducting maritime interception missions in support of the U.N. sanctions against Iraq. Equipped with a myriad of specialized surveillance sensors, the Nimrods provided real-time imagery downlinked to the command ship HMS Cardiff and the coalition fleet.
As the Iraqi conflict heated up, the Nimrods' maritime interception missions came to include the surveillance of hundreds of Iraqi merchant vessels, barges, dhows, and speedboats in search of additional arms, weapons of mass destruction, and chemical weapons, as well as fleeing Iraqi regime members.
Once the war began, Nimrods patrolled the Persian Gulf for fast-attack speedboats and sea-mining vessels in an effort to protect allied combatants at sea. Once detected, the Nimrods monitored the contacts' movements and passed the information to coalition forces for strike or interdiction. At one point, suicide speedboats were sighted that then fled into the territorial waters of Iran. They were picked up and detained by the Iranian Navy. In another incident, four minelaying vessels were detected and destroyed. Others were intercepted and boarded and sea mines were found.
The British Nimrods played a crucial role during Iraqi Freedom, blocking passage of Iraqi smuggling ships and attempts at mining the waterways and approaches to the port of Umm Qasr. Their efforts helped speed the eventual reopening of that port as a conduit for humanitarian aid to all of Iraq.
Mr. Reade is the manager of P-3 business development and international marketing for IMP Aerospace Halifax, Nova Scotia. IMP is the maintenance provider for the Canadian government’s fleet of P-3s, known as the CP-140 Aurora. He is the author of The Age of Orion: The Lockheed P-3 Story (Mechanicsburg, PA: Schiffer, 1998).