S-3 Viking Foreign Military Sales
The S-3 Viking was never exported under Foreign Military Sales. With a range of more than 2,800 nautical miles and a ceiling height of 40,000 feet, the Viking is an important patrol and reconnaissance aircraft for potential foreign military customers worldwide. “They want to see the U.S. Navy is still flying these aircraft,” NAVAIR PMA 290 Deputy Director for International Programs Cmdr. Kurt Muller said in 2010.
South Korea's requirement is known as Maritime Patrol Aircraft Batch 3. Batches 1 and 2 were two lots of Orions: eight second-hand P-3Bs that were refurbished and upgraded last decade to a standard called P-3CK and eight P-3Cs that were bought new in the 1990s and are now being upgraded to the CK standard. The Defense Acquisition Program Agency said in early 2013 that options for its requirement for “20-plus” lower-tier maritime patrol aircraft included the Airbus C295, Boeing P-8 Poseidon and Lockheed Martin SC-130J Sea Hercules.
By 2013 South Korea planned to introduce more than 20 Vikings into service in 2018-20 as second-tier maritime patrollers, in response to the loss of a warship to a North Korean submarine attack three years ago. The S-3s were a cheaper option than refurbishing and upgrading more Lockheed P-3 Orions. If matters progresse as expected, a contract should be signed in 2018, with an initial operating capability slated for 2020 (one year later than originally planned, due to budgetary issues).
The Navy proposed taking over 20 Vikings that had been kept in storage since 2009 to shore up the country's detection and attack capabilities against Pyongyang's submarine fleet. By September 2015 South Korean Naval Aviation planned to introduce overhauled S-3 Viking anti-submarine warfare (ASW) planes for countering North Korean threats. In August 2015 a military program review group approved the proposal to incorporate 12 former US Navy Vikings into service.
By April 2016 Lockheed Martin hoped to have South Korea’s purchase of the S-3 Viking approved in June 2016. There had been criticism that the S-3 is an outdated platform, but the Navy has argued that these planes are being maintained in "mothballs" and are fully capable of being used. "Using the planes can give the country the ability to deal more effectively with underwater threats," a naval officer claimed. He added that the S-3s are much cheaper than buying completely new planes. Although North Korea's submarine force is antiquated, its fleet consists of diesel electric boats that are very difficult to detect when they put to sea. Such boats can threaten both South Korean and U.S. naval ships in times of crisis as well as merchant ships, particularly in coastal waters.
Lockheed Martin expected that the procurement of its S-3 Viking maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft by South Korea would pave the way for further sales of the type to at least three other operators. With the US Navy (USN) having divested the twin-turbofan S-3 Viking in 2009, the aircraft would supplement its P-3s in the airborne ASW role.
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