2023 OFFICIAL: Six ex-Kon.Marine MLD Lockheed P-3 Orions to go to Portugal after German Marineflieger retirement...

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.pilootenvliegtuig.nl/2023/0 ... ions-over/
/
https://www-pilootenvliegtuig-nl.transl ... r_pto=wapp

Portugal takes over German PC-3 Orions
August 31, 2023 | 62 Views

LISBON - The Portuguese government announced on Thursday (Aug. 30)
that the country will release the entire inventory of the German P-3C Orion fleet,
comprising six aircraft,
Midlife Upgrade (MLU) Kits, spare parts, support equipment, test equipment and flight simulators.
purchase for a maximum amount of € 45 million.

Originally, the Orions were to continue on offshore patrols until 2035
with the four-engine turboprops acquired from the Netherlands in 2006.

At the end of June 2020, however,
it became clear that technical problems and the 'no longer calculable total costs'
meant the end for the older maritime patrol aircraft and submarine hunters.

The Orions will therefore be phased out in 2025
and replaced from 2024 by five brand new Boeing P-8A Posideons.

...also see
https://twitter.com/P3OrionResearch/sta ... 9144935542

[Alpha Kilo One]

I struggle to understand....
Germany has had their fair share of problems with those planes.
So far so good.
And now all problems are gone in Portugal?

[Bunzing]

I give the FAP a fair chance that they will succeed to get at least part of the fleet in operational service. OGMA an FAP have a lot of experience with the P-3. The German Navy and industry have struggled a lot from the start to get acquinted with the type.

[michel N]

Not only that, but a fire in an Airbus warehouse in 2018 destroyed many spareparts for the Orion. The delay and lesser availability of spare-parts also hurt the P-3 upgrade programme in Germany

[Alpha Kilo One]

OK. Fair enough. Hope we can see them for decades!
Wish them all the best.

[Stafsels]

Has been one been arranged to taken up proud place at the NMM at Soesterberg?

After service with the Germans or Portugese of course....

[Alpha Kilo One]

No more places in the depot

[patrick dirksen]

"The entire inventry, being 6 aircraft".

Afaik the Germans have or had 8 foermer Dutch P-3s. Scramble database has 60+01 as scrapped, but this one is still stored at Nordholz, albeit in a cannibalized state. Even without this one, there should still be seven. Who knows more?

[Alpha Kilo One]

An article of Marco Borst told me that 60+02 was found too costly to update ( during the process itself they found out).
Should be returned to navy, not updated.
I guess they don't sell that specific one.

[woelfie]

A recent post on Flugzeugforum states:
60+01 will go to the Aeronauticum
60+02 will be scapped
60+22 (the former USN one) will be preserved in Germany "somehow"

[patrick dirksen]

Thanks for the additional information!
Looking forward to "60+22" to show up somewhere, as I still need that one.

[jaah]

According to https://www.p3orion.nl/news.html 60+22 should become a gateguard at Nordholz.

[patrick dirksen]

That should make it very easy to get...