The Lockheed P3V-1 Orion makes its first flight at Burbank, Calif. A development of the turboprop-powered Electra airliner, the Orion is the Navy’s new land-based patrol aircraft. In November 1962, VP-8, the first operational P-3 unit (as it was redesignated in 1962) goes into action during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The P-3 was still in frontline service in the US and in 13 other countries at the beginning of the 21st century.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.