The Ejection Site
Martin-Baker SJU-17 P3I NACES
The Naval Aircrew Ejection Seat (NACES) seat is being upgraded as part of a long running program called P3I. This program upgrades the seat in survivability for both the light and heavy occupants by changes to the catapult, the seat bucket accomodations and changes in the sequencer. The earlier version of the seat can be seen on this web page. The version shown here is the SJU-17/A for the late version F/A-18.
The catapult cartridge uses gas ignition and was modified to have a different force profile to prevent injuries to the varied crew weights. The cartridges shown here are the older version on the left and the newer version on the right. Note that the threading has also been changed to prevent the wrong type of cartridge being fit in the catapult tube.
Thanks to an anonymous contributor for the photos
The Naval Aircrew Ejection Seat (NACES) seat is being upgraded as part of a long running program called P3I. This program upgrades the seat in survivability for both the light and heavy occupants by changes to the catapult, the seat bucket accomodations and changes in the sequencer. The earlier version of the seat can be seen on this web page. The version shown here is the SJU-17/A for the late version F/A-18.
