Our Journey

A new P-3B Orion awaiting delivery to the RAAF following acceptance from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation factory was destroyed by fire after the undercarriage failed on landing at Moffett Naval Air Station. The aircraft was one of the first three of this type due to arrive in April, but the arrival date was deferred until 13 May. Australia’s order was initially for ten P-3B Orions to equip No 11 Squadron for maritime patrol duties. A second order for ten AP-3Cs re-equipped No 10 Squadron in 1978.

The crew of a RAAF P-3B Orion maritime patrol aircraft from No 10 Squadron commenced the first ‘prosecution’ of a Soviet Echo II class submarine transiting from the South China Sea through the Straits of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. Over the next five days Orion crews used radar and sonobuoys to detect, identify and track the submarine. The episode was the first of many conducted under Operation Gateway during the Cold War. In response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Detachment A of No 92 Wing (comprising up to three Orions with support staff) was stationed at Butterworth, Malaysia, from February 1981. The detachment began the regular monitoring of Soviet ships and submarines passing through the region, before moving into the more aggressive prosecution phase a year later. These patrols ended with the Cold War in 1989, whereupon Operation Gateway focused on maritime security.

The 30-year permanent presence of RAAF fighter units based at Butterworth, Malaysia, ended with a special ceremony. In future, the Australian presence would comprise a detachment of P-3C Orions, an Army rifle company (changed over at three-month intervals), and regular rotational detachments of F/A-18 Hornets sent from Australia. The parade to mark the new arrangements was attended by Australia’s Defence Minister and the Secretary of the Department of Defence, along with the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Ray Funnell; Malaysia was also represented by its Defence Minister and the Chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. As RAAF and RMAF airmen paraded with their respective bands, there was a symbolic flypast of Mirages leading F/A-18, F-111 and P-3C aircraft. Spectators included six former Commanding Officers of Butterworth, from when it was a RAAF base before 1970, who were flown from Australia especially for the occasion. 

The Air Force detachment of two AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft sent to the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) flew its first mission under Operation Slipper. Patrolling day and night ahead of the coalition invasion of Iraq , the aircraft contributed to the overall objective of achieving and maintaining sea control in the northern Persian Gulf. The superior intelligence from the Orions’ sensors provided coalition commanders with an accurate surveillance picture of surface activity, enabling potentially hostile shipping to be identified and challenged well away from allied warships. This marked the start of a commitment that flowed on into Operation Catalyst (the rehabilitation of Iraq following the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein) and would last for more than five years. In that time, the detachment also undertook overland reconnaissance as well as maritime patrols and oil terminal protection sorties.
 

The Air Force began the draw down of the  AP-3C Orion following the arrival of the P-8A Poseidon, after serving as Australia's primary Maritime Patrol aircraft. Initially P-3 patrols involved the regular monitoring of Soviet ship and submarine movements in South East Asia, however it soon involved the use of radar and sonar buoys to actively detect, identify and track submarines. After the Cold War, the P-3 patrols continued as new demands arose to stop piracy, smuggling and terrorists.