P3C

P3C is the United States Navy designation for a variant of the Lockheed P-3 Orion, a four-engine maritime patrol aircraft developed for long-range anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance. The P-3C was introduced to replace earlier versions and to incorporate updated avionics, sensors, and weapons capabilities. It entered service in the 1960s and remained a primary maritime patrol asset for several decades, conducting broad-area surveillance, ASW, and reconnaissance missions over oceans and littoral regions. The aircraft is optimized for long endurance flights and operating from dispersed bases, with a high-wing design, a four-turboprop propulsion system, an extended radar and sensor suite, and a tail-mounted magnetic anomaly detector.

The P-3C carries a range of ASW and mission equipment, including sonobuoys, dip sonar, and stores for anti-submarine torpedoes or depth charges. It has also supported maritime surveillance and search-and-rescue tasks. A number of P-3Cs were later modernized under Update I, Update II, and Update III programs to extend reliability and sensor performance. In addition, certain airframes were converted to EP-3E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft for national surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

With the advent of newer platforms such as the P-8 Poseidon, the P-3C has been progressively retired from U.S. service and gradually from other operators, though some airframes remained in service with allied nations and training roles into the 2010s and beyond.