Lockheed Martin [LMT] has selected Rockwell Collins [COL] to upgrade Greece’s Hellenic Navy P-3B Orion aircraft avionics systems.
Rockwell Collins’ Flight2 integrated avionics system will be used to bring the P-3s into compliance with upcoming mandates for unrestricted global airspace operations, Rockwell Collins said Monday.
The Flight2 upgrade is expected to convert the aircraft’s flight deck into a large, all-glass cockpit. This will allow “easier viewing of critical information on the primary and multi-function flight displays, and the engine instrument display system,” the company said.
Flight2 will also include the integrated communications and Identification Friend or Foe Mode 5 capabilities for mission readiness.
Rockwell Collins highlighted Flight2 is already installed on 15 Greek C-130s, is compliant with Communications, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management Systems, and is supportable and sustainable for future aviation mandate requirements.
“P-3 pilots will experience a whole new level of flight through greater situational awareness, improved communications capabilities and useful alerts. They’ll be able to achieve their missions more effectively to make it home safely,” Dave Schreck, vice president and general manager of Rockwell Collins’s airborne division, said in a statement.
This avionics upgrade is part of a Lockheed-led P-3B modernization and upgrade program that began in early 2016. In Feb. 2016, the U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $142 million contract to modernize Greece’s P-3B aircraft and extend their service life by 15,000 flight hours (Defense Daily, Feb. 12). This covers reactivating one unit and procuring software and hardware kits to upgrade/modernize a total of four P-3Bs.