P-3 Orion Articles: November 1998

5 November 1998; NNS4701. U.S. Navy P-3Cs to begin flights over Kosovo by CTF-67 Public Affairs; Navy News Service.
SIGONELLA, Italy (NNS) -- The Navy's Mediterranean- based P-3C Orions began flying daily surveillance missions over Kosovo Nov. 1 to support the NATO air verification agreement there.
The flights are at the request of U.S. European and NATO commanders. The mission requires the aircraft's robust surveillance package and 10- to 12-hour unrefueled range to provide an airborne "eye-in-the-sky" for the verification commanders.
Flying from U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, aircrews are using Synthetic Aperture Radar and the Electro-Optical Camera System to provide NATO commanders with real-time video and radar images of the situation on the ground in Kosovo. These systems give the aircraft an all-weather, day or night surveillance capability. A real-time down-link system and advanced communications suite allow ground commanders in remote locations instantaneous access to the information gathered by the crew.
The aircrews can "see" targets on the ground with startling clarity. For intelligence purposes, it is camera-quality imagery, down-linked in real-time and available instantly on any battlefield commander's desktop computer. The information is gathered while the aircraft flies well out of the range of any expected ground fire.