Despite plans for a grand farewell, the U.S. Navy’s EP-3E Aries II spy planes are seeing their planned retirement put on hold due to heightened operational demands. A report by Seapower magazine says the planned homecoming ceremony for the crews at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, has been delayed indefinitely. The squadron operating the aircraft, Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1), was scheduled for deactivation.
Balon Greyjoy, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The EP-3E Aries II, nicknamed the “World Watcher”, is a crucial asset for the Navy, specializing in electronic reconnaissance. This aircraft is being replaced by the MQ-4C Triton, a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Northrop Grumman. The Tritons are already operational in Guam and NAS Sigonella, Sicily. Recently, a third operational base for the Triton was established in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. This “orbit”, as it is referred to, enables the Triton to provide persistent surveillance and intelligence gathering in a designated geographical area. You may read about the standing up of the third Triton orbit here.
The MQ-4C Triton is equipped with Integrated Functional Capability 4.0. This makes the Triton capable of assuming the electronic reconnaissance role currently carried out by the EP-3E.
The Navy, in a directive issued on July 18, 2023, initially planned to deactivate VQ-1 and retire the EP-3E by September 30, 2024, with the squadron’s official deactivation set for March 31, 2025. However, operational demands first pushed this date back to October 8, 2024, and now to an undefined date. While the exact number of operational EP-3Es remains undisclosed for security reasons, the Navy has confirmed having sufficient aircraft to continue operations until March 2025. Retired EP-3Es are being sent to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309th AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, for storage. The reason for the continued use of the EP-3Es is likely due to the hostilities in the Middle East.
The Navy directive states that a special projects patrol squadron (VUP) will take over the foreign signals intelligence duties previously performed by the EP-3E. This signifies a shift in the Navy’s approach to maritime surveillance, moving from a platform requiring a crew of around 24 to an unmanned system.
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Best is to accelerate MO-4C Tritons and buy 20 P-8s to fill the needs to use for intelligence surveillance.