Page 94 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

Question: Why is it the CP-140 and not the P-3?

Lt. Col. Baker: “Canada purchased empty P-3 Orion airframes and added to it the best anti-subwarine
warfare suite of the day which was found in the S-3 Viking and have modernized from that hybrid forward.

"We were one of the leading nations in ASW, unquestionably, in the 1980s because we had the best
equipment with the best airframe, put together.

“The plane has undergone a life extension program.

"The plane was stripped down to become a virtual tube and the new wings and tails were installed which
overall gives us 15 more years of operational life in the airframe.

“Throughout the Alliance, there was not much appetite to invest in ASW once the cold war was over.

"We tended to run in place.

"To move forward, we have focused on the Aurora Incremental Modernization Program or AIMP.

"Block One is considered the original airplane.

"In Block 2 we focused on a cockpit-centric modernization. We added flight management systems, gps and
much more to facilitate modernization in terms of operating the aircraft.

"But it didn't change anything in our operational capabilities.

"In other words, Block 2 were front end upgrades.

“We did add a new capability in the course of modernization not tied to any particular block, namely the
MX-20 EO IR camera that was a significant upgrade to enhance our capabilities for persistent surveillance.

“The addition of this capability caused a shift in our mission sets to add providing support to overland
operations.

We are the main ISR operating asset for the RCAF and as such have operated for some time in this role in
the Middle East.”

Question: What changes did Block 3 bring?

Lt. Col. Baker: “This was the game changer for the Aurora operationally.

Block Three brought basically all new capabilities in the tactical side of the airplane for ASW,
communications, and just a new way to look at things.

"The capability enhancements were such that we gave a new designator to the airplane.

"Block Three modified airplanes are referred to as the CP-140M.

“Improvements were made in all areas, but the biggest change was in the acoustic sensing area.
Second Line of Defense

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