Boeing receives US Navy P-8A Poseidon order

Boeing has received a contract from the US Navy for 11 P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which will take the total fleet to 24 and bolster the service’s anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.  The $1.9 billion contract was announced on 24 September 2012.

The contract is the third low-rate initial production award and follows two last year that totalled thirteen aircraft. Boeing has already delivered three of the production P-8As, which are based on the company’s next-generation 737-800 commercial airplane, and the US Navy plans to purchase 117 to replace its P-3 fleet.

The P-8A Poseidon is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. It possesses an advanced mission system that ensures maximum interoperability in the future battle space. Capable of broad-area maritime, and littoral operations, the P-8A will influence how the US Navy’s maritime patrol and reconnaissance forces train, operate and deploy.

The Boeing-led team also has built and is testing six flight-test and two ground- test aircraft under a US Navy System Development and Demonstration contract awarded in 2004. The test aircraft have completed more than 600 sorties and 2,500 flight hours to date.

Boeing’s industry team includes CFM International, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation.