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Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

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TheFoufure
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Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by TheFoufure »

Dylan Phelps caught this Bureau of Personnel Sea Duty Component Dallas (BUPERS SDC DALLAS) P-8A Poseidon approaching Dallas-Love Field (TX) on 7 August 2019. He exclusively provided Scramble his picture.

The US Navy P-8A Poseidon, serial/BuNo 169010, is seen approaching runway 13R at Dallas-Love Field after a sortie over the Gulf of Mexico. Attached underneath the fuselage is a state-of-the-art and very secretive Raytheon Advanced Airborne Sensor (AAS) also dubbed Littoral Surveillance Radar System (LSRS). The latter possibly only in use for P-3s (*) .

The Naval Air Systems Command-Flight Support Detachment is operating out of Love Field with modified P-3s and P-8s. Their mission is shrouded in secrecy, but it has been rumoured that they perform, among other operations, drug interdiction missions along the US-Mexico border. The unit of the P-3s and P-8s is called "BUPERS SDC Dallas" and is described as a critical CAT 1A CNO special project unit with detachments at NAS Patuxent River (MD) and NAS Point Mugu (CA). The unit is also known as NAWC-23, a possible fake designation for the unit within the US Navy inventory. This designation is possibly extracted from the Air Anti-Submarine Warfare, Assault and Special Missions Major Weapons Systems, under a 1999 contract number AIR 2.3 of the Naval Air Warfare Center.

Photo credit: Dylan Phelps

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It will give some work to John Young to adapt his P-8 model ;-)
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by Firebird »

If it is that secret it definitely won't be called an EP-8. What I don't understand is why they don't base the unit at KNFW?
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by jimrodger »

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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by clickclickdoh »

Firebird wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 08:19 What I don't understand is why they don't base the unit at KNFW?
The mission has always been at Love Field for as long as I can remember. Even back when NAS JRB Fort Worth was still Carswell AFB and there was still a NAS Dallas with F-14s flying around. Until the last few years, the mission was flown by P-3s that had a nearly identical canoe fairing under them.

It's a very open secret to the attentive people of Dallas. The P-3s and now P-8s come and go in broad daylight and can often be seen from the passenger terminal while they are parked on their ramp.

For the curious, John Young did indeed make this rare model when he made his P-8s
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by TheFoufure »

clickclickdoh wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 11:08 For the curious, John Young did indeed make this rare model when he made his P-8s
Good news. But I didn't find it in the aircraft model's directories.
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by jimrodger »

clickclickdoh wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 11:08
Firebird wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 08:19 What I don't understand is why they don't base the unit at KNFW?
The mission has always been at Love Field for as long as I can remember. Even back when NAS JRB Fort Worth was still Carswell AFB and there was still a NAS Dallas with F-14s flying around. Until the last few years, the mission was flown by P-3s that had a nearly identical canoe fairing under them.

It's a very open secret to the attentive people of Dallas. The P-3s and now P-8s come and go in broad daylight and can often be seen from the passenger terminal while they are parked on their ramp.

For the curious, John Young did indeed make this rare model when he made his P-8s
P-3 example -

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... 60863).jpg

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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by clickclickdoh »

TheFoufure wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 11:51 Good news. But I didn't find it in the aircraft model's directories.
It is included in the base P-8 model package John put out. The particular model is name model.AAS
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by John Young »

Thanks Brent, I thought I had modelled that pod.

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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by TheFoufure »

clickclickdoh wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 12:33
TheFoufure wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 11:51 Good news. But I didn't find it in the aircraft model's directories.
It is included in the base P-8 model package John put out. The particular model is name model.AAS
Thanks a lot. I find it Only one exemple use this model.
Thanks to John for this ;-)
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by clickclickdoh »

At the time the model was made, only 951 was flying with the pod. Since then 996 and 010 have been seen with it. If they follow the trend that the prior P-3s did, the serial numbers will be disappearing off the jets wearing the pod, so a generic repaint with no numbers or unit markings could be used to represent several jets. Of course, how many jets there are will likely remain a mystery as no one is really certain how many P-3s there were with the canoe fairing.
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by Firebird »

The key question here is are they the same pods that were on the P-3s?
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by jimrodger »

Firebird wrote: 08 Aug 2019, 17:07 The key question here is are they the same pods that were on the P-3s?
The P-8A radar (AAS - Advanced Airborne Sensor) is a follow on from the one fitted on the P-3C (AN/APS-149 Littoral Surveillance Radar System - LSRS)

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https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Nav ... FV/4579225

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... 863%29.jpg

Very similar, but some small differences
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by Firebird »

OK new equipment but is it contained in the same pod?

If it is then we know that it is a known quantity, from what I read, if not then we will only find out over time.
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by clickclickdoh »

They are not the same pod. The pod on the P-3 angles upwards towards the fuselage in the last third while the pod on the P-8 is straight. That may not mean much though since the pod itself is largely believed to simply be an aerodynamic fairing for the bits inside.
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Re: Secretive Poseidon... can we call it an EP-8E?

Post by Firebird »

Well thank you guys for the info. very interesting.
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