P-8 of VP-8 with APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor

With the drop in air traffic, we are getting more interesting visitors at KNUQ.

Today it was a P-8 of VP-8 out of NAS Jacksonville. It lifted, took the Bay Tour then heading oceanic for PHIK. Looks like they are deploying to Japan. Got some great shots of the APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor as well.

a reply to: FredT

Nice catch!

a reply to: FredT
From the Wiki page.

Containing a double-sided AESA radar with near 360-degree coverage, it could scan, map, track, and classify targets, and do all of these tasks near simultaneously; it was reportedly sensitive enough to pick up a formation of people moving over open terrain.

Yikes!! Thats some crazy sensitivity there!

Other potential missions could include detecting and tracking low flying and stealthy cruise missiles, communications relaying, and electronic warfare as a standoff platform to penetrate contested airspace, since AESA radars are capable of radar jamming, producing fake targets, frying electronic components, and even cyberwarfare.[1][2]

Some serious hardware filling the western Pacific these days.

a reply to: FredT

will the new ones get this or is it only for the US

a reply to: penroc3

US is the only one I know of that uses it off the top of my head.

a reply to: Zaphod58

i was just wondering because of all the new P-8's being made(i think like 12 new ones to various allies)

We had a US Navy P-8 flying around the East of the UK today, flew just east of me but couldn't see it due to cloud...

I was surprised when a magnetic anomaly detector wasn’t part of the U.S. Navy variant; yet the Indian variant has a MAD. According to Wikipedia, the sonobuoys are so sensitive a MAD isn’t needed. So why did BAE get a contract “... to develop a sub-hunting UAV equipped with a MAD for launching from the P-8?” Nevertheless, I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Poseidon and it’s a popular export item. Who would have thought a 737 could look so sleek and deadly? I’ve flown in Southwest Airlines 737s many times.

a reply to: FredT

Looks like it was headed for Pacific Heights before it swung back north?
Could be some useful pieces to the puzzle.
They are pretty strict with some of this classified stuff, I remember getting snipped before they even dropped.

a reply to: Slichter

It was caught a few hours later heading in to Honolulu. My buddy is right under the approach path.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Interesting. I wonder how it compares with the MESA on the E-7?

a reply to: thebozeian

They're not easy to compare, since it's surface search. It would make an amazing new GMTI radar to replace the E-8C if they wanted to go that way. It would need some adaptation, but would be interesting to see.

a reply to: Zaphod58
I see, I didn't realize the P-8 even had this capability coming into service. Coupled with EO/IR its a pretty powerful tool. Imagine if you could combine this with the MESA on one platform like a 737-900, or even a 787-8. You could have a virtual gods eye view of any battlefield , land, sea or air.

a reply to: thebozeian

That's one of the interesting things about ABMS. A system capable of combining everything on a battlefield will be a game changer on the order of the F-35 to airborne combat.

The E-10A tried to combine GMTI, AEW, C3i, and ISR. They ran into some pretty interesting issues with interference between the two radar types.

originally posted by: thebozeian
a reply to: Zaphod58
I see, I didn't realize the P-8 even had this capability coming into service. Coupled with EO/IR its a pretty powerful tool. Imagine if you could combine this with the MESA on one platform like a 737-900, or even a 787-8. You could have a virtual gods eye view of any battlefield , land, sea or air.

Would you couple them together? I mean why put hours on an MPA to perform an AEW task if the system sits redundant half the time? Carrying the extra weight around too when not needed.

Modular could be good though, allow you to balance your fleet hours and maintenance?

originally posted by: Slichter
a reply to: FredT

Looks like it was headed for Pacific Heights before it swung back north?
Could be some useful pieces to the puzzle.
They are pretty strict with some of this classified stuff, I remember getting snipped before they even dropped.

Actually he got ATC to clear him for the "bay Tour" and htats a more or less typical flight path for that

a reply to: Scapegrace

i think the ASW heli uses a magnetic detector that is retracted or am i think of the P*

its late and i took nightquil and a Xanax get ready for some amazing posts that i will be embarrassed of in the am

Older MAD technology required the detector gimble to be as far away from the fuselage as possible, thus the MAD Boom.
Most likely, that is not a requirement anymore, and a solid state magnetic sensor can be positioned under the aircraft.

a reply to: Forensick
Sorry I wasn't suggesting you put the two radars on the P-8. I meant if you could take the two of them and put them on a new single airframe you would have a very powerful system for monitoring air and surface battle space. After talking with Zaph and reading a little it turns out that's exactly what they tried to do 15 years ago with the E-10. They couldn't make it work like that due to radar interference issues at the time so they rejigged the program with the intention of developing a spiral fleet of aircraft. Phase one aircraft would be surface search like the E-8(and now these P-8's), phase two would probably incorporate the MESA from the Wedgetail to act as a direct E-3 replacement , while phase three would handle SIGINT/ELINT type work carried out by multiple legacy airframes, and the E-10 was slated to replace the E-4B's somehow. I guess their goal was to eventually work out the problems so that they could with future upgrades port each capability across to the other spiral development aircraft. I n the end it died due to the technical snags and money constraints. Maybe now though, it could be made to work, albeit on a different platform?

a reply to: thebozeian

Would the P-8 have enough spare electrical generating capacity to run both? Not that you would but Im more curious than anything else.