According to the chief staff officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island’s Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10, the maritime patrol community is in a state of transition.

Capt. John Radka was the guest speaker last week during the monthly Navy League meeting at the Officers’ Club on NAS Whidbey. He said while the maritime patrol community is small, it makes up about a third of the population of tenant commands currently housed at NAS Whidbey.

Radka said the community is undergoing a transition to a “family of systems,” including the P-8 and BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) unmanned aircraft.

“In addition to new aircraft, there will eventually be changes to come down the road,” he said. “There are several different platforms, equipment upgrades and personnel structure changes that come along with the “family of systems.”

According to Radka, the current program of record calls for reducing the present fleet of 154 P-3 Orions to 117 P-8 Poseidons by fiscal year 2021. For NAS Whidbey, the official program of record calls for standing up four squadrons of P-8s. The final plan for basing is still in the works, as military construction (MILCON), budget and manning constraints are constantly reviewed and evaluated for efficiency every fiscal year.

“It’s one of those political climate things that is hard to predict,” he said. “As we eventually transition to the P-8, obviously budget constraints will determine how many of those 117 we get.”

Whether or not the program of record changes, the patrol and reconnaissance mission has not changed and is likely to become more robust, according to Radka. Maintaining a fleet of aircraft for training across the entire fleet will be key.

“All NAS Whidbey Island VP and VQ aircrews are trained locally then deployed, so it’s critical to have the training equipment and aircraft in place,” Radka said. “And the importance of ensuring personnel receive realistic, robust and effective simulator training will increase as well.”

In the days of budget tightening that are likely ahead, it means streamlining functionality in both equipment and personnel. The Navy is looking at being able to integrate new operating systems into the P-8 while currently consolidating one VQ squadron and one special projects squadron.

“We will have a slight reduction in personnel with the consolidation of VQ and VPU but virtually no change to the number of aircrews,” Radka said. “Like everything else in Naval Air, we’ll work our way through it.”