N.Z. aircraft to be modernised

Press, 19 August 1982, Page 12

N.Z. aircraft to be modernised

Special correspondent Seattle The first P 3 (Orion) of the Royal New Zealand Air Force to be modernised to meet today’s sea patrol requirements will arrive at Seattle in September. A group of R.N.Z.A.F.officers and men has been at work in Seattle for two years with the Boeing company, redesigning the sophisticated new navigation, detection, and data-processing equipment for the 14-year-old aircraft, which are expected to be serviceable for another 20 years after they are brought up to date. Boeing has the contract for updating the Orions, which were originally built by Lockheed. Hundreds of Orions are in service in the United States and several other countries. The New Zealand project, to be completed in 1984, is moving smoothly on schedule, according to Wing Commander Ray. Parker, officer in charge of the R.N.Z.A.F. group at work. Installation and testing will be carried out on one Orion, after removal of the old equipment. That will occupy a full year, reaching into October, 1983. “Then we will return that aircraft to New Zealand and verify the design and installation details before we start modifying the other four aircraft,” said Commander Parker. "Boeing will make kits to send to New Zealand, where w'e can use our own manpower and facilities to fit them.”

The' equipment in the Orions is considered inadequate to New Zealand’s needs for surveillance of the 200-mile off-shore zone, but the basic aircraft itself has a long operational life remaining. The modernisation will give it new radar, capable of finding targets in high seas which are obscured from present detection; infra-red equipment which can see in the dark; navigational devices of modern design, and Boeing’s UDACs (universal display and control system) for highly advanced data handling. In 1966, the five Orions cost New .Zealand £5 million. With the modern equipment being put in them now, their estimated cost would be $l5O million. Boeing’s contract to modernise them is for $22 million and, said Commander Parker, it is working within that figure.