Northrop Grumman Corporation announced it recently inducted the first U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft for depot level maintenance at its Aircraft Maintenance and Fabrication Center in Lake Charles.
Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract in June for aircraft maintenance and logistics services for the P-3 fleet. In addition to depot level maintenance, the company will support daily operations of the 14 aircraft fleet operating primarily out of Jacksonville, Florida, and Corpus Christi, Texas, as well as domestic and international deployment locations. All 14 aircraft in the fleet will undergo depot inductions over the course of the contract.
The total estimated contract price is $896,141,311.00 which includes a 4-month Phase In; 12-month base period; nine 12-month option periods and a 6-month extension option. The initial funding amount is $3,400,000.00.
This contract action procures P-3 aircraft maintenance and logistical support services necessary to ensure that the Government has the numbers and types of properly configured aircraft available where and when required to meet operational commitments in support of Air and Marine Operations (AMO). This contract will allow AMO to keep its fleet of P-3 aircraft operational to accomplish its core competencies of interdiction, investigation, domain awareness, contingency operations, and national taskings.
CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) operates the P-3 LRT and Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft, that perform a wide variety of operational missions, especially those that require long station time overhead, hemispheric range, and missions throughout all weather and environmental conditions. The versatile P-3 also serves as a force multiplier in joint operations with local, state, and federal partners for National Special Security Events and consequence management efforts.
The P-3 Long Range Tracker (LRT) aircraft are high-endurance, all-weather, tactical turbo-prop aircraft primarily used to conduct long-range aerial patrols and surveillance missions along the U.S. borders and in drug transit zones in Central and South America. P-3 LRT aircraft often fly in tandem with the P-3 AEW. Deployed in this manner, the P-3 AEW detects and tracks multiple targets and the accompanying P-3 LRT intercepts, identifies, and tracks those targets.
“Northrop Grumman’s expertise in aircraft maintenance, logistics and sustainment have kept aircraft fleets mission ready for decades,” said Michelle Scarpella, sector vice president and general manager, global sustainment and modernization, Northrop Grumman. “We support operations of aircraft around the world and have delivered depot maintenance from our Aircraft Maintenance and Fabrication Center in Lake Charles for over 20 years.”
Northrop Grumman’s growing Aircraft Maintenance and Fabrication Center is home to 700 professionals who have performed over 15 million hours of direct maintenance work on numerous aircraft including the P-3 Orion, E-8C, E2-C Hawkeye, C-2A Greyhound, and the United Kingdom Royal Air Force’s E-3D.