2003 was accepted as an exhibit at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Between July and December 2008, the VS-22 Checkmates, the last sea control squadron, operated a detachment of four S-3Bs from the Al Asad Airbase in Al Anbar Province, west of Baghdad. The planes were fitted with LANTIRN pods and they performed non-traditional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. After more than 350 missions, the Checkmates returned to NAS Jacksonville, Florida, on 15 December 2008. The squadron was disestablished on 29 January 2009. Final years and retirement A proposed airframe known as the Common Support Aircraft was advanced as a successor to the S-3, E-2, and C-2, but this initiative failed to materialize. In 1998, the U.S. Navy awarded a $40 million contract for Lockheed Martin to perform a full-scale Fatigue testing of the existing S-3s; these tests, which commended in June 2001, were aimed at extending the viable service life of each remaining aircraft, which had originally been certified for a structural life of 13,000 flight-hours. It was hoped that this could be extended to as much as 17,750 hours. The final carrier-based S-3B squadron, VS-22, was decommissioned at NAS Jacksonville on 29 January 2009. Sea Control Wing Atlantic was decommissioned the following day, along with the last S-3s in frontline fleet service. In June 2010, the first of three S-3s to patrol the Pacific Missile Test Center's range areas off of California was reactivated and delivered. The jet aircraft's higher speed, ten-hour endurance, modern radar, and a LANTIRN targeting pod allowed it to quickly confirm the test range being clear of wayward ships and aircraft before tests commence. These S-3Bs are flown by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Thirty (VX-30) based out of NAS Point Mugu, California. By late 2015, the U.S. Navy were operating a total of three Vikings in support roles. One was relocated to The Boneyard in November 2015, while the final two were retired, one being stored and the other transferred to NASA, on 11 January 2016, officially retiring the S-3 from Navy service. During 2004, NASA arranged the acquisition four of the withdrawn S-3Bs for use at its Glenn Research Center. In 2009, one of these aircraft (USN BuNo 160607) was given the civil registration N601NA, it was involved in numerous tests conducted by the agency. For over a decade, this aircraft was flying almost every day in support