151218-N-QK571-984 VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (Jan. 12, 2016) The last two U.S. Navy S-3B Viking aircraft soar over Laguna Peak at Naval Base Ventura County, California. In January, one aircraft left Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 and retired to the boneyard; the other went to start a new life with NASA. (U.S. Navy photo by Scott Dworkin/Released)
After over 40 years in service to the Navy, the humble and often unloved S-3 Viking has passed on. This neat little ASW bird was cooked up in the 1970s to replace the aging S-2 Tracker prop plane to give the Navy’s carriers persistent sub-busting and surface control capabilities without having to task a P-3 squadron to each flattop from shore.
While the S-3 never had to actually drop it hot on a Russki sub, they tracked hundreds of them and would have been one of the vital keys to keeping the Atlantic open if the Cold War ever went hot. Post-1989, they were increasingly used (as the P-3 was/is) in supporting overland operations, providing vital eyes and ears in EW recon roles as well as helping the fleet with light COD and aerial refueling (buddy stores).
During the Gulf War, Vikings nailed a number of Saddam’s small fast attack craft as well, proving their teeth worked just fine.
Now, retired from the main fleet in 2009, a number of S-3 aircraft joined Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 30 and continued to be used for range control duties out of Point Magu where they were appreciated.
“It’s got legs,” Capt. John Rousseau, who led the charge to bring the retired aircraft to VX-30. “It can go fast and long. The radar, even though it’s old, there’s not many better. We still spot schools of dolphins and patches of seaweed” when patrolling the range.
In November, VX-30 retired the first of its three Vikings, flying it to the military aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The other two, each with 40 years of service on the airframe, were not far behind.
“They still have life in them,” Rousseau said, “but it was time for another depot-level maintenance period, and you have to weigh that cost against the little time you could still get out of them.”
And with that, the last two were pulled off line this month and are headed to the desert.
And maybe Taiwan who could use them to replace (wait for it) 1950s vintage S-2 Trackers.
Other ideas to re-purpose the old “turkey bird” is as a dedicated COD aircraft or even an unmanned carrier-based drone.
