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AlmightyTallest -> RE: P-8 Poseidon submarine hunting (9/23/2015 8:58:33 PM)
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Sort of conflicting, but the latest news from Janes here: http://www.janes.com/article/45418/p-8-reliability-offers-boost-to-usn-s-asw-mission-without-mad
quote:
In July 2014 Patrol Squadron (VP)-16 concluded the Poseidon's first operational deployment when its eight aircraft returned from Kadena Air Base in Japan after finishing 600 sorties and 3,500 flight hours.
Rear Adm Jaynes said that deployment confirmed the USN's decision not to add a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) to the P-8 in later increments. MAD is "pretty much off the table", she said. "Having the VP-16 deployment under our belt, we asked the skipper if there was a point when he wished he had a MAD boom, and he said throughout the whole deployment that he never heard anyone say, 'If I only had a MAD.'"
The rear admiral noted that the P-8's advanced sensors eliminate the need for a MAD. "The reason the MAD was on the [Lockheed] P-3 [Orion], I think, has been overcome by sensors that are on the P-8," she said. The P-8's sensor suite "provides better situational awareness".
The P-8's addition to the USN's ASW arsenal is "really not changing" the navy's operational concepts, said Rear Adm Jaynes. However, because "its sensors are so much more sensitive, you can find your target a lot faster". The navy is, therefore, fielding five aircraft per squadron instead of the nine P-3s per squadron previou
Some interesting info on the P-8's new sonobuoy systems: http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20150414-p8-acoustic.html
quote:
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The acoustic sensor system of the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft proving to be twice as effective as that of the older P-3C Orion.
Capt. Scott Dillon, the Navy’s program manager for maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, speaking to reporters April 14 at the Navy League’s 2015 Sea-Air-Space Exposition, said, “Acoustics is the area where the aircraft has been shining,” while noting that that he has been “getting extremely favorable reviews of the aircraft’s real-world performance.”
The Boeing-built P-8 is likely to deliver even better acoustic detection and tracking capability with the introduction of Increment 2 upgrades, which include the Multistatic Active Coherent Capability (MAC).
MAC, an evolution of Improved Extended Echo Ranging used on the SSQ-110 sonobuoy, uses the SSQ-125 sonobuoy. The SSQ-125 generates loud sounds electronically rather than using small explosive charges to generate sound as in the SSQ-110. The long-range echoes from a target are intercepted by the sonobuoy and relayed to the aircraft’s sensor system. Dillon said the electronic sound sources generate fewer false returns than the explosive charges.
The MAC capability became operational on the P-3 last year. It has passed its operational evaluation, although the full report has not yet been signed out. The next P-8 squadron to deploy, scheduled for September, will incorporate this capability as the Navy has begun retrofits of MAC into the already delivered P-8s.
MAC is one of three major improvements being implemented in the Increment 2 upgrade. The others are the Automatic Information System and the High-Altitude ASW Weapon (HAAWC) system. HAAWC is a Mk54 torpedo with a Boeing-built wing kit, a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a data link with the aircraft. The weapon can glide from high altitudes — allowing the aircraft to maintain a wide search area and increased standoff ranges from threats — and deliver the torpedo to a water entry point. In conjunction with HAAWC capability, the sonobuoys will have a GPS capability to enable the aircraft to maintain a precise plot of the sonobuoy field at high altitude, 10,000 feet or higher.
Dillon said the acoustic tracking capability of the P-8 is so precise that the decision to delete the magnetic anomaly detector, used by the P-3 at low altitude, from the P-8 design has been validated.
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