Editing Lockheed EP-3 (section)

== Development ==
A total of 12 P-3C aircraft were converted to replace older versions of the aircraft, which had been converted in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The aircraft is known by the acronym ARIES, or "Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System".<ref name="usn">{{cite web |url = http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=1100&tid=1000&ct=1| title = EP-3E (ARIES II) signals intelligence reconnaissance aircraft| publisher = United States Navy Fact File| access-date = 15 February 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081114211856/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=1100&tid=1000&ct=1| archive-date = 14 November 2008| url-status = dead}}</ref> and has [[Signals intelligence]] (SIGINT) capabilities. SIGINT is the interception of signals, whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication (electronic intelligence—abbreviated to ELINT). The EP-3E generally has a crew of 24, including linguists, cryptographers and technicians.

The squadrons that flew the EP-3E also flew the [[Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star]] from 1962 to 1974 and the [[Douglas A-3 Skywarrior|Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior]] from 1960 to 1991.  There are 11 EP-3Es in the Navy's inventory, the last of which was delivered in 1997.