P-7 Long Range Air ASW-Capable Aircraft (LRAACA) - Military Aircraft (2025)

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The P-7 Long Range Air ASW-Capable Aircraft (LRAACA) was intendedto replace the P-3 Orion as the primary land-based ASW patrolaircraft. The Navy selected Lockheed in October 1988 to develop thisnext generation maritime patrol aircraft, a virtually a new designderived from the P-3C.

In the mid-1980s, the Navy initiated efforts to replace the largenumber of P-3 aircraft estimated to reach the end of their usefulservice lives during the 1990s. Over the years, the P-3C, the Navy'slatest model P-3aircraft, has lost some of its range and time onstation capabilities because of heavier required payloads. The Navysought a replacement plane with increased payload. and at least theoriginal P-3C range. The Navy also sought an aircraft with newertechnology that could reduce support costs and provide enhancedantisubmarine warfare capabilities.

The envisioned aircraft was a derivative of the P-3C and becameknown as the P-3G. It was to include improved engines, reliability,maintain-ability, and survivability enhancements, vulnerabilityreductions, andadvanced mission avionics. The Navy planned to acquire125 P-3G air-craft over a 5-year period. The Navy had been buyingvarious versions of the P-3 from Lockheed without competition for manyyears, and it believed that introducing competition into furtherprocurement would result in cost savings. The Navy sent a request forinformation to industry in May 1986. Using information obtained fromthe respondents, the Navy developed a P-3G specification that met itsoperational requirements. In August 1986, Office of the Secretary ofDefense officials approved the P-3G program.

In January 1987, the Navy released a draft request for proposal(RFP) for the P-3G. Following release of the draft RFP, no companyother than Lockheed indicated an interest in building a P-3Cderivative. Unwilling to award a contract to Lockheed withoutcompetition, the Navy expanded the scope of competition in March 1987to include modified commercial aircraft as well as aircraft based onthe P-3C design.

In May 1987, OSD directed the Navy to conduct a patrol aircraftmission requirements determination study (payload, range, speed,survivability,etc.). To complement this study and enhance the RFP, theNavy released a draft RFP to industry soliciting comments on theoperational potential of commercial derivative aircraft to perform thepatrol aircraft mission. In September 1987, the Navy released a finalRFP, incorporating the findings of the OSD-directed study and theresponses from industry.

Three proposals were received and evaluation began in February1988. In October 1988, the Navy selected Lockheed as the winner of thecompetition. Lockheed's proposal was significantly lower in cost thanproposals submitted by Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. It was alsojudged to be technically superior, with a less risky technicalapproach.

On January 4, 1989, the Defense Acquisition Board,(DAB) recommendedfull-scale development of the program. The next day, the Navy awardeda fixed-price incentive contract to Lockheed to design, develop,fabricate, assemble, and test two prototype aircraft, designated theP-7A. The contract had a target cost of $600 million and a ceilingprice of about $750 million. In March 1989, the Navy estimatedacquisition of 125 P-7A aircraft at about $7.9 billion (escalateddollars). Of this total, development cost was estimated at $915million (escalated dollars). Procurement of each production versionaircraft was estimated at about $56.7 million.

In November 1989, Lockheed announced a $300-million costoverrun in its development contract due primarily to schedule anddesign problems. In the following months, Navy and Lockheed officialsheld extensive but unsuccessful discussions in an attempt to addressthe contract issues. By letter dated July 20, 1990, the Navyterminated the P-7A development contract for default, citingLockheed's inability to make adequate progress toward completion ofall contract phases.

The bulk of funds in the amended FY1991 budget request for the P-3modernization program were for the P-7 LRAACA aircraftprogram. Continuation of the P-7A contract was one option that waspresented to the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) in November 1990.Both the House and the Senate fully funded the request. In order toavoid prejudicing the DAB decision process, the Congress decided toauthorize an amount that would fully fund the fiscal year 1991 effortof any of the alternatives to be considered by the DAB.

The program was finally cancelled by the DAB at the end of 1990, onthe grounds that it had fallen behind schedule, which called for thetwo prototypes to be delivered in 1992. Some 123 production P-7As hadbeen planned. This decision left the Navy without a program to replaceits aging P-3 aircraft. The Boeing Update IV avionics upgrade, animportant element of the P-7A, was initially to have been appliedto 109 earlier US Navy P-3Cs, but in 1992 this work was alsocancelled.

The British Nimrod MR2P was to have been replaced by the P-7A,but cancellation of that program forced the British Ministry ofDefence to issue requirement SR(A)420 for a replacement maritimepatrol aircraft (RMPA).

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