From The Archives: 35 Years Ago In Aviation Week
Thirty-five years ago, Aviation Week chronicled the first flight of the ES-3A Shadow, the culmination of a $500 million modernization program to convert 16 S-3A anti-submarine warfare aircraft into electronic intelligence platforms. The U.S. Navy/Lockheed ES-3A prototype began its flight test program from Palmdale, California.
All of the S-3 aircraft family were powered by General Electric’s TF34 engine. The Navy planned to use the new aircraft to give carrier battle groups their own tactical electronic reconnaissance capability.
Ultimately, however, the fleet was decommissioned after only eight years of service in September 1999, mostly due to the expense involved in keeping the aircraft’s communications compatible with newer signals intelligence systems.
Article on page 36 reporting on the tests to verify the airworthiness of the aircraft.
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