$42 million 'nose-to-tail' project will upgrade engines, wings, radar on hurricane planes

Technicians remove the forward radar cover of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's P-3 turboprop aircraft "Miss Piggy" Friday, May 15, 2015, at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. While best known as “hurricane hunters,” NOAA’s four-engine WP-3D turboprops support a wide variety of national and international meteorological, oceanographic, and environmental research and monitoring programs in addition to hurricane research and reconnaissance. Projects range from air chemistry, climate, and ocean heat content studies to satellite data validation. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (The Associated Press)

Chris LaLonde works on the the engines on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's P-3 turboprop aircraft "Miss Piggy" Friday, May 15, 2015, at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. While best known as “hurricane hunters,” NOAA’s four-engine WP-3D turboprops support a wide variety of national and international meteorological, oceanographic, and environmental research and monitoring programs in addition to hurricane research and reconnaissance. Projects range from air chemistry, climate, and ocean heat content studies to satellite data validation. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (The Associated Press)

Technician Joseph Klippel works on the engines on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's P-3 turboprop aircraft "Miss Piggy" Friday, May 15, 2015, at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. While best known as “hurricane hunters,” NOAA’s four-engine WP-3D turboprops support a wide variety of national and international meteorological, oceanographic, and environmental research and monitoring programs in addition to hurricane research and reconnaissance. Projects range from air chemistry, climate, and ocean heat content studies to satellite data validation. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (The Associated Press)