S-3’s swan song: ISR over Iraq

[unhappycamper]

A final mission: Viking's last deployment ends this month.


S-3’s swan song: ISR over Iraq
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Dec 6, 2008 6:56:26 EST

History books will show that the Navy’s S-3 Vikings stayed in the fight until the end.

In the twilight of the aircraft’s five-year sundown phase, the Viking has been flying vital missions over Iraq, helping to meet the secretary of defense’s urgent call earlier this year for additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in the Middle East.

The last operational squadron, Sea Control Squadron 22, deployed in July to a large airbase inside Iraq, where it provides real-time aerial images for troops on the ground.

The squadron is slated to return to Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., in mid-December, marking the end of the airframe’s final deployment. The last plane officially will retire in January.

“They were not scheduled for this deployment. At this point, they would have been transferring the aircraft into the boneyard,” said Cmdr. Chris Schenck, the chief staff officer for Sea Control Wing, Atlantic Forces.


Rest of artiocle at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_viking_120608w/%2e



uhc comment: In case you forgot, numbnuts flew an S-3 Viking onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to declare "Mission Accomplished" on 5.1.2003.