NAVAIR Depot Jacksonville artisans have replaced the wings and are completing phased depot maintenance on a P-3 aircraft. This is the first re-wing of an aircraft at the Depot in 12 years.
“The aircraft is an AIP configured aircraft and has the latest mission equipment in it. As such, it is worth saving versus scrapping the entire aircraft. The wings on this aircraft were beyond economical repair,” said Lt. Cmdr. Terry Hart, P-3 product officer.
“There are a limited number of P-3s in the fleet and a even more limited number of AIP configured aircraft. You could say this is a priceless asset,” Hart said.
Initial cost estimates were $2.5 million to $4 million to do the re-wing only. The Depot will spend $2 million to $2.5 million for both the re-wing and the PDM, according to Hart.
“We have done other re-wings in the past, such as the P-3 “Phoenix” project in 1991. We expect to do a limited number of re-wings in the future on high value assets like EP-3Es and AIP configured P-3s,” Hart said.
The donor wings came from an aircraft placed in storage at AMARC — Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center — Tucson, Ariz.
The donor aircraft was prepared and its wings harvested in January and February 2003 and then shipped March 2003. The aircraft was inducted into the P-3 hangar March 17. The re-wing portion of the project was completed on Aug. 8. The PDM started at that time and should be completed with aircraft delivery to the fleet by the end of the year.
The Depot has recently been funded to re-wing another P-3. This project is scheduled to start around mid-fiscal 2004 depending upon availability of a donor aircraft.