May Meeting
Extraction of the EP-3E from China
Monday, May 19th
Scalini's RestaurantDirections
Scalini's is located about a mile north
of the I-285/Cobb Parkway intersection
in The Promenade Shopping Center
near the Best Buy Store
Time
Social Half-Hour: 6:30
Dinner: 7:00
Presentation: 8:00
Cost:
Member/Guest $25.00
Students $20.00
Reservations
If you plan to attend, you must make a reservation by calling
Vance Lausmann at (678) 339-2591 no later than noon on Friday,
May 16th or
send an email to rsvp@sae-atlanta.org
Meeting Topic
The Extraction of the EP-3E from China
Lori K. Flansburg
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Background:
On April 1, 2001 a US Navy EP-3E ARIES II surveillance aircraft was forced to make
an emergency landing in China after being struck in a mid-air collision by a Chinese
Navy Shenyang F-8-II "Finback" fighter. The EP-3E landed at Lingshui airfield on
Hainan Island with significant damage. After the crew of 24 was released on April 11th
negotiations began to return the aircraft to the United States.
After negotiations with Chinese officials the US government decided to airlift the
fuselage. For political reasons it was decided that they would lease a Russian Antonov
An124 "Condor" to do the job.
A Lockheed-Martin recovery Team arrived at Lingshui AB on 15 June 2001.
Their equipment was flown into Lingshui by the Antonov An124 the next day and the
team completed the first inspections on 17 June 2001.
Finally on 3 July the An124 left Hainan, China loaded with the fuselage and salvageable
parts of Navy EP-3E surveillance plane. It arrived in Manila, Republic of the Philippines
to refuel and continued its flight to at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Following an overnight layover
in Hawaii, the An124 departed Hickam on 4 July to arrive at its final destination, Dobbins AFB, GA, on 5 July 2001.
The Plane:
The Lockheed Martin EP-3E ARIES II
The EP-3E ARIES (Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System) was introduced
in 1971 after Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE (VQ-1) had successfully
been operating two earlier versions. In 1986 the USN awarded Lockheed with a
contract to engineer a follow-on aircraft. Lockheed Aeromod Center in South
Carolina was selected to strip the original reconnaissance planes off their
operational equipment, modify twelve P-3C Orion airframes to EP-3Es and install
the new generation ARIES II equipment onboard of these planes.
The mission of the EP-3E ARIES II is "to conduct airborne electronic reconnaissance to obtain information on areas and targets of naval and national interest." The reconnaissance aircraft constantly provide Fleet, Joint and National Level Commanders with vital and timely intelligence concerning potentially unfriendly forces. Operating in international airspace either independently or in conjunction with other US Forces, they frequently provide the Fleet Commanders with their only real-time assessment of the tactical posture of unfriendly military forces.
About the speaker:
Lori Flansburg is currently a senior staff engineer with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
responsible for updating the structural analysis methods. She was the forward
fuselage structural integrity technical lead for the F-22 for 7 years during
design and testing. She has also worked as a structural analyst and lead in
the P-3, S-3 and C5-RERP programs. Prior to coming to Lockheed she was the technical
lead on the forward fuel tank of the B-2 Bomber at LTV Aircraft in Grand Prairie,
Tx. She graduated with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University
in Lubbock, Texas in 1984. She and her husband have one son and make their home
in Canton, Ga.
page last updated on 5/11/03