BRUNSWICK – A planned reduction in the Navy’s fleet of submarine surveillance planes raises questions about the future of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

The new generation of P-3 Orions being developed by the Navy could top out at 112, or less than half the current fleet of 227. Active P-3 Orion bases in the United States are in Brunswick; Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; Whidbey Island, Wash.; and Jacksonville, Fla.

With another round of base closures set for next year, any mention of reduced numbers or shifting of resources from one base to another can be cause for concern in towns that host the bases.

“This is not a slam dunk. You’ve got to have a mission to remain open,” said Rick Tetrev, chairman of the BNAS Task Force. “By dropping their inventory so low, it makes things uncertain.”

Navy officials emphasized their commitment to the P-3 program after Tetrev recently expressed concerns to Brunswick officials about plans to reduce the fleet to 148 airplanes.

The size of the existing fleet and where the new Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft are stationed will be an important factor in determining Brunswick’s future, Tetrev said.

“The big question is how will the Navy deploy these new planes among four bases. Down the road, it could become a numbers game,” he said. “If there are no planes at Brunswick, then there is no mission.”

“Our goal is to keep the P-3s in the air as long as possible with the last plane scheduled to be retired in 2019,” said Commander Mike Hewitt, MMA requirements officer for the Navy’s Director of Air Warfare. “The public should know that the Navy is committed to replacing the P-3s.”

Hewitt said the Navy soon will select either Lockheed Martin or Boeing to design and build 108 to 112 of the new planes. Hewitt does not know how many of the planes will be assigned to Brunswick. The project also includes 50 to 60 unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, that will be used to support the surveillance planes.

The Navy already has begun to retire its existing fleet of P-3s and plans to reduce the number from 227 to 148 by October 2006, Hewitt said.

Brunswick already has retired three P-3s, leaving it with 28 operational planes, according to base officials.

“The force is going to get a lot smaller,” Hewitt said. “It’s a dramatic reduction. We will maintain only the most capable airplanes. The older planes will be retired.”

Capt. Dan Lynch, the commander of Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 5 at BNAS, said there is no reason for concern, at least about the P-3’s future.

“Every base will be reviewed [by the Department of Defense] but the future of the P-3 and its mission are very solid,” Lynch said.