Frank, I understand that the plan is for one squadron (10 aircraft) of P-8A's (11 Sqn) and one squadron of Global Hawk (or Mariner) UAV's (10 Sqn).

Canada joins Norway in extending the life of the P3
 

LM Delivers 1st Set of New Canadian CP-140 Wings

(Marietta, Ga., July 28, 2010) -- Lockheed Martin delivered the first of 10 new Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) outer wings on July 28 for installation on a CP-140 Aurora for the Government of Canada. These wings will be installed by IMP Aerospace, a Lockheed Martin P-3 service center located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Canada operates a fleet of 18 CP-140 Aurora aircraft playing a critical role in search and rescue, littoral/overland surveillance, economic zone and shipping lane protection, submarine detection and anti-terrorism. The aircraft are based on the P-3 Orion airframe.

The MLU program replaces the outer wings, center wing lower surface, horizontal stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer leading edges with all new material. All necessary fatigue-life limiting structure is replaced and new alloys are used with a five-fold increase in corrosion resistance to provide significantly reduced maintenance and sustainment costs. The MLU will extend the structural service life of the CP-140 up to 15,000 hours and adds 20 years of operational use.

"The Government of Canada's MLU program reinforces our commitment to support the CP-140s for the long-term," said Ray Burick, Lockheed Martin P-3 Program vice president. "We are also proud to partner with IMP Aerospace for the installation of the MLU on the Auroras."

"As Canada's CP-140 In Service Support contractor, IMP is very pleased to continue our long-term partnership with Lockheed Martin, while upgrading this critical and strategic fleet for the Canadian Forces," said David Gossen, president of IMP Aerospace.

The all-new production wings are the cornerstone of the P-3 MLU program. Lockheed Martin has 52 MLU kits under contract with six operators from four nations. To date, a total of nine MLU kits have been delivered to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Norway, Canada and Taiwan.

Source : Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT)

New wings do not equal new aeroplane.
 

Sure new wings will buy you fatigue life and reduced inspection and maintenance costs.

Likely there is some new wiring and componentry that comes with the new wings but there is a myriad of electrical components that have been sitting in the aircraft since manufacture, just waiting to fail on pre-flight grounding you for hours if not days.

New wings on a 30+ year old airframe are a false economy from a getting the job done perspective.

The problem is you can quantify the longer fatigue life and monetary savings easily for new wings. You've got to dig a lot harder to see the real hidden cost of declining serviceability and increased maintenance due to ageing airframes (Well, the components in them).

New wings do not equal new aeroplane.

It's the other way around, 11SQN are getting the UAV's and 10SQN are getting the P-8A's.

k'n oath, my old squadron reduced to flying model aircraft!
I need a large Glenfarclas after hearing that.

That's two very good bites! :) Neptunus,I suggest the Glenfarclas 105 (Cask strength).

PLE Always, I agree with your thoughts re maintenance (& subsequent aircraft availability), the flip side being the suitability of the airframe/engine combination to the role. Without a doubt, the P3 is a superior platform for the LRMP role than the B737/P8.

Boeing P-8A Poseidon Aircraft T3 Enters Flight Test
 

T3 is the P-8A program's mission-system and weapon-certification aircraft
http://www.asdnews.com/data_news/ID29574_600.jpg
(Seattle, August 2, 2010) -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] P-8A Poseidon aircraft T3 successfully completed its first flight test in Seattle on July 29. T3 is the P-8A program's mission-system and weapon-certification aircraft.

During the two-hour and 48-minute flight from Boeing Field, Boeing and U.S. Navy test pilots performed airborne systems checks including engine accelerations and decelerations, autopilot flight modes, and auxiliary power unit and engine shutdowns and starts.

In the coming weeks, T3 will join the two P-8A test aircraft currently at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and complete additional ground and flight tests.

"At Pax River, the Boeing and Navy team will use some of the ground test data we've gathered in Seattle for in-flight separation and delivery accuracy tests that will occur later this year," said Chris Ahsmann, P-8A chief engineer for Boeing.

T3 is one of six flight-test aircraft that are being assembled and tested as part of the U.S. Navy System Development and Demonstration contract Boeing received in 2004. Airworthiness-test aircraft T1 entered flight test in October 2009 and arrived at the Navy's Patuxent River facility in April of this year. T2, the primary mission-system test aircraft, arrived at Pax River in June.

The Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8A anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to replace its P-3 fleet. Initial operational capability is planned for 2013.

Source : The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA)

What does this have to do with D&G ?

It has nothing to do with "Airline and RPT issues in Australia, enZed and the Pacific".

We have a
Military aircrew - http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew-57/
Flight testing - http://www.pprune.org/flight-testing-50/
Non Airline Transport Stuff - http://www.pprune.org/non-airline-transport-stuff-58/
Spectators Balcony (Spotters Corner) - http://www.pprune.org/spectators-bal...ers-corner-52/

Which are much better homes for posting Boeing PR on that have nothing to do with Airline and RPT issues in D&G.

Personally, I'm quite comfortable with it being here. It's quite relevant to the environment in which Australian Airline Pilots will be flying and also relevant to possible RAAF training within Australian Civil Airlines.

I suggest you don't click on it if you are not interested.

I agree. The P8 is a potential replacement for the AP-3C and I don't mind reading about it here. I certainly don't venture into the other forums for any information related to it.

As peuce pointed out, don't like it, don't click on it. The mods have obviously been happy with it for the last 8 pages.