Operational History
All AP-3C Orions were assigned to No. 92 Wing RAAF, which forms part of the air force's Surveillance and Response Group. Each of the 18 aircraft is permanently allocated to either No. 10 Squadron or No. 11 Squadron rather than being placed in a wing-owned pool. AP-3C aircraft are also used by the RAAF's Orion operational conversion unit, No. 292 Squadron, for training flights.
The AP-3Cs have seen extensive operational service. The Orions form an important part of Operation Resolute, the Australian Defence Force's contribution to patrolling Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. As part of this operation Orions fly regular missions around Australia's western and northern approaches and report the results of their patrols to Border Protection Command. AP-3Cs also periodically conduct patrols over the Indian Ocean, Strait of Malacca and South China Sea from RMAF Butterworth in Malaysia as part of Operation Gateway. A single AP-3C was also deployed to Pago Pago in American Samoa during November and December 2006 to support the Australian force deployed off Fiji in response to the 2006 Fijian coup d'état.
Further afield, a detachment of two AP-3Cs has been based in the Middle East since 2003 as part of Australia's commitment to the War on Terrorism (Operation Slipper) and the Iraq War (Operation Catalyst). These aircraft conduct maritime surveillance patrols, provide support to Coalition warships and boarding parties and conduct extensive overland flights of Iraq to support the Coalition ground forces there. By December 2007 the AP-3C detachment had conducted 1,200 sorties totaling more than 11,000 hours of flying.
In February 2009 an AP-3C Orion conducted flights over the state of Victoria in which it used its sophisticated cameras to map the damage and destruction caused by the Black Saturday bushfires and to search for survivors.
The RAAF's AP-3C Orions are expected to be replaced by up to a dozen P-8 Poseidons and six to eight RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles between 2015 and 2018.
Read more about this topic: Lockheed AP-3C Orion
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