Both 320 and 321 squadrons were equipped with Orions, but these units did not have their own aircraft with their own squadron badges. Instead they took aircraft from a central pool. All thirteen P-3s were owned and maintained by MARPAT, 'Groep Maritieme Patrouillevliegtuigen' (Group Maritime Patrol Aircraft).
The original wartime tasks of the P-3s were defending the Northern seas, protecting the sea lanes between Europe and North America and detecting and destroying enemy submarines. During the wars in Yugoslavia MLD P-3s protected allied ships and flew many covert missions.
In peace time the MLD flew patrol missions over the North Sea and northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, keeping an eye on shipping traffic and hunting after smugglers and pollutors. Other tasks were flying SAR (search and rescue) and coastguard missions and commanding trade embargoes. One P-3 flew reconnaissance missions over Afghanistan, assisting allied forces in their hunt for Al Qaida terrorists.
One Orion was permanently based at Keflavik (Iceland) for many years since 1986. Together with Orions of the United States Navy it searched for Russian subs until the early 1990s.
Two or three could be found at Hato airbase (Curaçao in the Caribbean). They were very succesful during their hunt for drug smugglers and their SAR operations. This very important task was taken over by two Fokker 60 transport planes modified for coastguard duties and later by civilian Dash 8-aircraft.
The Lockheed-Martin P-3 Orion is a very successful aircraft of which more than 750 were built. More than 15 countries have received P-3s: The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Germany, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, Australia, New Zealand, Chili, Argentina and Brazil. Holland was the first country to withdraw the Orion.
In January 1999 the Ministry of Defence decided to withdraw three P-3s from service. They were put in open storage on the Portuguese airbase of Alverca. The other aircraft would received a Capability Upkeep Programme (CUP): a very radical modernisation, giving the P-3s many more years of service.
In July 2003 the government decided to sell the P-3s as soon as possbile. The navy thought she didn't have need for aircraft anymore and wanted to concentrate on ships and submarines. The Minister of Defence turned a deaf ear to experts and sold eight Orions to Germany and five to Portugal for an extremely low price.
MARPAT and 320 and 321 squadrons - the oldest squadrons in Holland - were officially disbanded on January 14th, 2005. That's how some dumb politicians killed a proud organisation that has done a lot of good for the Dutch people and the rest of the free world for more than 85 years. In June 2006 the last Dutch P-3 was delivered to Germany and Valkenburg airbase was closed.
