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EP-3 Last Pilots - Career Management?

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
They better keep their dirty waveguide bottle hands off my Romeo sim

I think they were just so excited to get into one of 5 different sims with 5 different keyset layouts and software configs. That was GREAT training when I went through the first time. At least now they all have CDUs.
 

green3p

New Member
Your soon to be XO is good people, and so is the current XO. They know this isn’t ideal for anyone, so kick ass, take advantage of every opportunity you get, and support your fellow JOs as you all make the best of it while getting to say you were the last of your kind .
All, thanks for the helpful responses. Obviously, less than ideal position to be in but I have heard good things from multiple people about the current and incoming leadership so I'm hopeful it will end up working out.

Getting qualified as quickly as humanly possible seems like the best route to success. After having talked to some IP's in the squadron it seems like the current plan is that people who want a P8 transition will "probably" get one. I realize that this is only the plan and there are plenty of ways this could change based on performance/needs of the Navy.

As far as the hard down by 2025 it seems pretty likely. The FE syllabus has been shut off for a couple years, all the IP's have orders out in the coming months, less than a handful of P3's even in Jax for training, etc. so it would be a massive effort to ramp up production again. However, some have mentioned that VQ-1 might get extended slightly and the current people would stay with it for a year-ish longer if needed. Who knows.

For sure trying to avoid an early roll to shore duty.

Thanks for the help!
 

HSMPBR

Not a misfit toy
pilot
So they are putting the M&M under the nose, and putting the canoe on the top and bottom of the P-8 as well as a whole mess of extra antennas? ???
View attachment 37028
My guess is that, in the unholy alliance between Boeing and VP, the new configuration is far more expensive and far less effective than doing a silly thing like that.
 
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FLGUY

“Technique only”
pilot
Contributor
A P-8 NFO I work with said the first couple of P-8 airframes are being configured for the EP mission.

Really? Interesting for sure if true. An EP-8 would certainly be cool to have considering the Triton is...well, what it currently is..
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Not the golden path, but VX-30 will be flying P-3’s for the foreseeable future or until the wings fall off which ever occurs first.
After they (the P-3 community, not VX-30) went and spun one awhile back, I feel like it's almost unlucky to joke about the wings falling off.
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
After they (the P-3 community, not VX-30) went and spun one awhile back, I feel like it's almost unlucky to joke about the wings falling off.

To be fair, even they didn't get the wings to actually fall off. Though they provided mx with lots of photo ops of what looked like a wing ready to fall off.
 

OscarMyers

Well-Known Member
None
After they (the P-3 community, not VX-30) went and spun one awhile back, I feel like it's almost unlucky to joke about the wings falling off.
We’ve had a number of aircraft greater than zero go into PMI and not come back…. The Mugu ramp is becoming quite the bone yard.
 

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
Really? Interesting for sure if true. An EP-8 would certainly be cool to have considering the Triton is...well, what it currently is..

A UAV? Not mission effective? What are you driving at? Legitimately curious, as I know next to nothing about that platform and it's maturation curve.
 

robav8r

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
Really? Interesting for sure if true. An EP-8 would certainly be cool to have considering the Triton is...well, what it currently is..
I don't think there are ANY plans to field an EP-8. There are several "other" variants of the P-8, but I don't think an "E" variant has been considered. The MQ-4 has some interesting possibilities going forward, but the N2/N6 world is finding what the platform could do, versus current network realities are, remain a challenge.
 

FLGUY

“Technique only”
pilot
Contributor
I don't think there are ANY plans to field an EP-8. There are several "other" variants of the P-8, but I don't think an "E" variant has been considered. The MQ-4 has some interesting possibilities going forward, but the N2/N6 world is finding what the platform could do, versus current network realities are, remain a challenge.

Well, it would be interesting to say the least to one day see an EP-8. From talking to the guys I know in VUP, the drone seems to be very different than what they were told it would be.

I can’t speak to any specifics on its effectiveness, just my outside perspective from hearing the frustrations that those guys are going through.
 

robav8r

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
Well, it would be interesting to say the least to one day see an EP-8. From talking to the guys I know in VUP, the drone seems to be very different than what they were told it would be.

I can’t speak to any specifics on its effectiveness, just my outside perspective from hearing the frustrations that those guys are going through.
IFC-4 & Minotaur as mentioned in this article (albeit a bit dated) is where the program wants to get to in terms of capability. The Minotaur system is pretty interesting, and capable. But again, N2/N6 has many challenges wrt networks, bandwidth and reliability.
 
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