US Navy EP-3E Aries II Spyplane Has Flown Its Last Operational Mission
November 8, 2024
The final US Navy EP-3E Aries (Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System) II surveillance aircraft (BuNo 159893) has completed its final operational deployment. The aircraft completed its final operational flight in the fifth Fleet area of operations on 29 October, before returning to its home base at NAS Whidbey Island on 6 November. The other deployed aircraft (BuNo 161410) returned from Souda Bay, on the Greek island of Crete, where it had been operating under US Central Command on 4 November.
The two aircraft were assigned to the ‘World Watchers’ of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1), which became the sole operator of the EP-3E with the disestablishment of VQ-2 on 22 May 2012.
The EP-3E Aries II is a signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform derived from the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, and optimised for gathering intelligence on foreign communications (COMINT), and electronic emissions (ELINT), primarily from enemy radar systems. It uses sophisticated receivers and high-gain antennas to intercept a broad spectrum of electronic emissions from deep within hostile territory.
Some 12 Aries II EP-3Es were produced, entering service in the 1990s and replacing the original EP-3E ARIES, from which the new variants were converted. The type has been continuously upgraded to keep pace with technological developments. The aircraft has evolved from being a pure signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft to being more of a Multi-Intelligence platform.
A typical EP-3E crew includes six flight crew and a reconnaissance crew of 18, including tactical evaluators, and cryptologic technicians, who would be drawn from the Navy, Marines, and Air Force.
The crew process and merge the collected intelligence ‘take’ and can then distribute the information gained for providing threat detection and warning, supporting the suppression of enemy air defences, and enhancing battlefield awareness. The resulting intelligence ‘product,’ including full-motion video intelligence, could be provided to fleet and theatre commanders in near real-time.
US Navy EP-3Es have operated in or near all of the world’s hotspots, including the South China Sea, Libya, Syria and the Caribbean. The type has often provoked a reaction from enemy fighters, most notably on 1 April 2001, when an EP-3E was struck by a PLA Air Force J-8 fighter, and was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island, China, triggering a major international incident. The crew and aircraft were detained for 11 days.
Originally, the US Navy had planned for VQ-1 to cease operations in time for the last two aircraft to return to their home base at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington in time to celebrate the end of operations on 30 September 2024, ahead of the formal deactivation of the unit on 31 March 2025. Operational needs forced this to be delayed, first to 8 October 2024, and then to an undefined date. An elaborate VQ-1 Sundown Homecoming Ceremony was held between 1000-1100 on Tuesday 8 October 2024, but without the star guests (the two final aircraft), which had been due to return from their final detachments and arrive at NAS Whidbey Island simultaneously on 8 October.
The Navy has been sending EP-3Es into retirement with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, for some time. This has not been a one way street, however, and one EP-3E (BuNo 156511, the aircraft involved in the Hainan incident) has been moved from the AMARG boneyard to go on public display at the adjacent Pima Air & Space Museum.
The EP-3E’s vital intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission will be undertaken primarily by the MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance UAV, as well as by the P-8A Poseidon and space-based assets.
The MQ-4C Triton has already started operating from Guam in the Pacific and Sigonella in the Mediterranean, and a third Triton operating location has been established in the fifth Fleet area of operations. It was the establishment of this base, on October 1, that allowed the EP-3E to finally stand down.
The MQ-4C is capable of flying at a higher altitude than the EP-3E and offers a longer endurance, but obviously has no on board analysis and exploitation capability, and is highly dependent on datalink bandwidth capacity and availability.
Some of the EP-3E’s missions will also be taken over by the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, which has a signals intelligence capability even in its baseline form, allowing it to detect, geolocate, and classify emissions. Some P-8As are configured to carry other intelligence-gathering payloads, including the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, and Boeing has funded the development of a new modular multi-mission pod for Poseidon, which could offer the ability to rapidly integrate and carry specialised sensors.
The Navy insists that: “The transition from the EP-3E to the P-8A Poseidon and MQ-4C Triton platforms has been carefully planned to avoid capability gaps. These platforms offer enhanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, with greater range, endurance, and the ability to operate in more complex environments.”
