NAS NORTH ISLAND, Calif. - The Navy is saying good-bye to an old friend, one that dates to the Vietnam era.
The friend is the S-3B Viking, and soon the vintage aircraft will be a memory.
The Navy is phasing out the aircraft, and the two sea control squadrons at Naval Air Station North Island (VS-33 and VS-41) are slated to hold sundown ceremonies in July and September 2006.
NAVAIR Depot North Island held a sundown ceremony of sorts Sept. 30, when the last Viking completed the Integrated Maintenance Concept program at the depot.
"The S-3 program grew out of the VSX program in 1968 and 1969," said Capt. Tim Trainer, NAVAIR Depot North Island commanding officer during the sundown ceremony. Trainer said that Lockheed Aircraft was awarded the contract to develop the Navy's new carrier-based turbo fan-powered antisubmarine warfare aircraft. The S-3 replaced the S-2 Tracker.
The first S-3 arrived at Naval Air Rework Facility, Alameda, Calif., in 1974, Trainer noted, and the first Scheduled Depot Level Maintenance (SDLM) Viking was completed three years later. "A total of 408 SDLM Vikings were completed at Alameda before the S-3 program transitioned south to Naval Aviation Depot North Island in 1994, because the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended that the Alameda naval air station be closed," Trainer said. "Many of the engineers and artisans who worked on the Viking program in Alameda packed up their belongings and moved to San Diego to stay with the program."
After some initial growing pains and challenges, the depot - in conjunction with the fleet, the program office and Fleet Support Team - developed the IMC program. The S-3 platform is part of the Multi-line Program at the depot, where 13 engineers, representing 192 years' experience, and 18 artisans with a collective total of 299 years' experience, work either on the S-3 program or the Multi-line program.
Trainer said the depot sold 97 SDLM Vikings. "We implemented IMC in April 2000, and we completed 112 aircraft including the sundown induction," the Skipper said. He told the artisans and the engineers their efforts insured the fleet deployed with safe, combat-ready aircraft to defend the nation's interests and to achieve victory in the Cold War, in Afghanistan, in two Gulf wars and in numerous smaller conflicts.
"We'll miss the S-3," Trainer said, "but we look forward to providing that same level of support to the aircraft that are replacing it." He congratulated the depot work force for delivering the 199th and final S-3 Viking from the depot.
"This is a success story within Naval aviation, and I recall my S-3 deployments aboard USS Enterprise (CVN 65) when the carrier was stationed in Alameda," said Capt. Gregory Labuda, then-commander, Sea Control Wing Pacific. The wing disestablished several hours following the sundown ceremony. "This is it for us," Labuda said, "because we're cleaning out desks and will turn off the lights later today."
Labuda recalled his days with VS-35, when the integrated maintenance concept came to fruition in the late 1990s. "IMC was a new concept to save the Navy money," Labuda mentioned, "and the concept started with the S-3 because the Navy knew that the Viking community would make the concept work."
And it was a success story where cost, time and turn around continue to work, because "ultimately, the fleet gets the aircraft quicker and in better shape," Labuda said.
A year from now the Navy will be out of the S-3 business on the West Coast, according to Labuda. "The Viking will continue to fly for a short time because an East Coast squadron will be making one more deployment from a West Coast carrier. Then 'the Hoover' will go into the Naval aviation history books," he said.
"This is a bittersweet moment for us, and we accomplished the job as a combined effort between the depot work force, the contractors, and our military teammates," said Fred Jolly, NAVAIR Depot North Island Multi-Line Program manager. "We were a truly unified team."
North Island Depot Bids Farewell To S-3 Viking
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