BOEING DELIVERS FIRST P-8A POSEIDON TO ROYAL AIR FORCE

Boeing last week delivered the first of 9 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft – MPA to the United Kingdom Royal Air Force – RAF. The UK is acquiring the multi-mission aircraft through the Foreign Military Sales process with the US Navy. The P-8A Poseidon replaces the U.K.’s retired Nimrod aircraft.

“This is a great milestone in the UK P-8A Poseidon’s journey to the UK. . The platform will enhance the UK’s maritime patrol capability with advanced, state-of-the-art technology – said to Spazio-News Magazine Air Commodore Richard Barrow, the senior responsible owner for the UK’s P-8A program – P-8 is the key to solving this challenge on the surface, the sub-surface and in the waters of the North Atlantic. There is no place, for our enemies, to hide. We will make the oceans transparent and we will prevail.”

As part of a collaborative program with the US Navy, pilots and maintainers from the UK’s RAF have been stationed at Naval Air Station JAX since 2012. Called “Project Seedcorn,” the arrangement has allowed Royal Air Force members to fly the P-8A with Patrol Squadron Thirty – VP-30, the Navy’s Maritime Patrol & Reconnaissance Fleet Replacement Squadron, to maintain their maritime patrol skills in advance of receiving the P-8A.

The P-8 is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. In addition, the Boeing Poseidon performs humanitarian and search & rescue missions around the globe.