Lockheed CP-140 Aurora

The Lockheed CP-140 Aurora is the maritime patrol aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force. It uses the airframe of the Lockheed P-3 Orion but carries the electronics suite first installed in the carrier-based Lockheed S-3 Viking, which makes it very similar to the P-3C from outside and quite different inside. Its sensors were built mainly for anti-submarine warfare, and it also flies maritime surveillance, counter-drug and search-and-rescue missions as Canada's only strategic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. It was acquired in the early 1980s to replace the CP-107 Argus. Three surplus airframes bought after Lockheed closed the Orion production line in 1991 became the CP-140A Arcturus, used for pilot training and coastal patrol. The Aurora Incremental Modernization Project and the Structural Life Extension Program keep the fleet flying toward about 2030.