Lockheed Martin Airborne Tactical Mission System for German Navy’s P-3C Orion Aircraft

Lockheed Martin received a $158.5 million contract for the second phase of the German Navy P-3C Mission System Refresh (MSR) program.

The German P-3C Orion MSR Program will include the design, development, manufacture, integration, installation and test of the Lockheed Martin Airborne Tactical Mission System (ATMS).

The program will upgrade the mission system processing suites on the fleet of eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft to support operations through 2035. The Mission System Refresh (MSR) is part of an overall fleet upgrade that includes structural mid-life upgrades as well as an upgrade to the Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) cockpit capability.

Mike McGuire, Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems Germany P-3 program manager said, "The MSR provides critical surveillance capabilities and reduces hardware."

The ATMS is an Open Architecture JAVA-based system that provides state-of-the-art software programs as well as core mission system processing, display and control components.  By leveraging Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components, future obsolescence costs are reduced thereby supporting the long-term system sustainability for the customer.

The mission system refresh will include a new acoustic processing system called the Airborne Rack-Mounted Commercial Portable Processor (AR-C2P) that will provide long-term sustainability in the P-3 aircraft.

The Germany P-3 Orion MSR Program began in 2016 when the U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin an initial Foreign Military Sales contract for $54.9 million for design and development work through Preliminary Design.

This current contract award of $158.5 million takes the program from Preliminary Design Review through program completion in 2022. The eight aircraft operated by the German Navy were procured in early 2006 from the Royal Netherlands Navy.