USN re-orients P-3 replacement program

The US Navy (USN) now plans to focus its Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program on replacing P-3C Orions in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role, with the complementary Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) system assuming the bulk of the responsibility for long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). In addition, the MMA is no longer seen as a successor to the service’s EP-3E Aries II signals-intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft.