Built in 1961 by Lockheed Martin, it functioned as a maritime patrol craft and as an ASW (anti-submarine warfare) platform although it could carry weapons designed to kill warships. Although it has not as of yet functioned in its main role of hunting and killing enemy submarines, it has seen combat in many different regions of the world during and after the Cold War. It has proven to be an excellent aircraft and many other nations had created counterparts to the P-3C Orion.

Impressed with the plane’s capabilities and seeing that it matched what they needed in terms of protecting the sea-lanes around Japan, the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) eventually bought several then built more P-3 Orion planes under license.

After Godzilla’s horrific attack on Hong Kong in 1996, the JMSDF scrambled all of its search assets to find the monster. Eventually they spotted Godzilla in the waters off the east coast of Taiwan and a P-3C Orion armed with electronic equipment flew to Godzilla’s general location. Onboard was G-Force officer Meru Ozawa who helped in the gathering of information about Godzilla’s present state. Once she and the others on the plane gathered what they needed, the Orion headed back to Tokyo so she could update her colleagues at the UNGCC with the latest information on hand.