For maritime surveillance operations around the French Pacific islands, the Aeronautique Navale had relied on SP-2H Neptunes for many years. As these aircraft became time expired, a replacement was required, that needed to be cheap to obtain and easy to run. Although several ideas were considered, the simple answer came from Aerospatiale. Redundant Caravelle airliners were available in some numbers, had sufficient range and cabin capacity, and were easily adaptable to the intended role. 4 former Air France aircraft were obtained and refurbished. A weather radar system was installed in an enlarged nose radome, while a modified CSF search radar system was installed in an under fuselage pod. Crew stations were fitted in the main cabin, while some of the original seats were also retained, to allow the type to fulfil a secondary transport role. As the main role of the new model was surveillance and SAR, no weapons were fitted, but a dinghy ejection tube was fitted in the rear fuselage, to allow inflatable lifeboats to be dropped. In keeping with their new protective role, the aircraft were named as the Caravelle Protecteur.
Entering service with Escadrille 12S in 1978, the new Protecteurs quickly replaced the last Neptunes at Faa’a airport, Tahiti. They proved a good choice for the role, serving diligently over French Polynesia until 1994, when they were honourably retired in favour of smaller Dassault Falcon 20 Gardians.
