P-8A/P-8I ASW/MPA Aircraft Thread

[Skywatcher]

Like with the F-35, I suspect that inter-operationality (that is a word, right?) with the US is a major, perhaps game winning, selling point for the P-8.

 

[Jeff Head]

Like with the F-35, I suspect that inter-operationality (that is a word, right?) with the US is a major, perhaps game winning, selling point for the P-8.

No doubt.

But these nations also know what they are doing militarily when it comes to their nation's defense with both the F-35 and the P-8.

The platform also has to perform and give them a really good reason to buy...in addition to one factor being able to operate in sync with US forces.

Japan (P-8), Israel (F-35), Australia (F-35 & P-8), Norway (F-35 & P-8), Turkey (F-35 & P-8), etc., etc. are not just buying these expensive systems to make nice with the US. They have studied them, tested them, and found them to be something they also want because of what capabilities they bring to the table.

 

[SamuraiBlue]

Japan in talks with New Zealand for defense aircraft
Tokyo aiming for its first major arms contract

TOKYO -- Japan is in negotiations with New Zealand to export the Self-Defense Forces' patrol and transport aircraft, in hopes of beating out U.S. and European competition to score its first large-scale arms contract.

The deal will also involve the maintenance of the planes, and is potentially worth billions of dollars. Tokyo in September provided unclassified information on the P-1 maritime patrol plane and C-2 transporter, both developed by

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, in response to Wellington's requests.

Representatives from Japan's defense ministry and Kawasaki Heavy are in New Zealand for negotiations. Japan could come up with a proposal in the first half of 2017 concerning the price, production process and maintenance of the planes. It will also consider jointly producing certain parts with New Zealand....... to read more

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[Jeff Head]

As I have said...the P-1 is a great aircraft and very much worthy of consideration.

If the Japanese can get a good price point ut there, I expect they will pick up some of the old P-3C upgrades that are going to be coming about. Maybe quite a few.

The P-8 has already won several orders...but there are going to be a lot more P-3s that need replacing.

 

[SamuraiBlue]

As I have said...the P-1 is a great aircraft and very much worthy of consideration.

If the Japanese can get a good price point ut there, I expect they will pick up some of the old P-3C upgrades that are going to be coming about. Maybe quite a few.

The P-8 has alreadt won several orders...but there are going to be a lot more P-3s that need replacing.

There is an advantage for KHI since they can provide a discount towards New Zealand since they can offer both C-2 and P-1 to replace their P-3 and C-130.

 

[Jeff Head]

There is an advantage for KHI since they can provide a discount towards New Zealand since they can offer both C-2 and P-1 to replace their P-3 and C-130.

Yes...that would be one consideration.

In the end two things are paramount:

1) The equipment/vehicle must be capable...and there is no doubt that the P-1 is very capable.

2nd, it must be affordable. IOW, New Zealand would have to be able to afford enough aircraft to meet its requirements.

We will see if Japan can make the deal.

Typically, Japan has had to spend a LOT for its own home grown equipment because the lot sizes are usually fairly small. In this case, if Japan can see its way clear to win some of these deals and be willing to bargain to a low enough price to do so, ultimately the larger volume of builds will allow it to offsets those lower costs...even perhaps for later lots it intends to buty of the P-1s itself.

 

[Jeff Head]

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​

he U.S. Navy accepted its 50th P-8A Poseidon (P-8A) maritime, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida on January 5.

The Navy’s Poseidon is replacing the legacy P-3 Orion and will improve an operator’s ability to efficiently conduct anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.

The Boeing-built aircraft is operated by India and Australia while Norway and the UK are yet to fly their first P-8As.

The U.S. P-8A program of record calls for a total requirement for 117 of the 737-based anti-submarine warfare jets.

“I’d like to formally thank the team, including PMA-290, Boeing and our entire P-8A industry team, as we deliver the 50th P-8A Poseidon early and under budget,” said Capt. Tony Rossi, the Navy’s program manager for Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft. “This milestone demonstrates outstanding work ethic, professionalism and dedication to the fleet.”

“The P-8A is special,” added Rossi. “This is the first time a Navy combat aircraft was built from the ground up on a commercial production line. We’ve leveraged commercial expertise and experience, and a highly reliable airframe, the 737, which has reduced production time and overall production costs.”

The U.S. Navy said that since the initial contract award, the program has reduced P-8 costs by more than 30 percent and has saved the U.S. Navy more than $2.1 Billion.

The fleet’s transformation from the legacy P-3C to the P-8A is expected to be completed by Fiscal Year 2019.

 

[Jeff Head]

I thought I should update this thread to account for the international orders of the P-8 and the current US status.

Right now, the following nations have made deals for the P-8 with the planned numbers shown, and the potetnial for however many more which they have discussed in parens:

India - 12 (+12)
Australia - 15
UK - 9
Norway (5)

In addtion, the following nations are seriously considering the P-8 for their future MPA needs, with several of them already seeking US Congressional approval:

Canada
Italy
New Zeland
Saudi Arabia
Turkey

The aircraft is doing very well internationally and I expect to see more orders follow.

As of March 2017 the US Navy had received 53 aircraft and will approach 60 aircraft by the end of the year.

Here is a recent article talking about the aircraft and sales:

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​

Recently the recipient of a mischievous “greeting” by a Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter over the Black Sea, the Boeing P-8A Poseidon continues rolling out to the U.S. Navy, bringing new capability in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and no doubt annoying adversaries. Since it first started delivering Poseidons to the Navy in March 2012, Boeing this spring had handed over nearly half of the 117 jets the service seeks.

Prior to the Farnborough Airshow last year, Boeing (Chalets 332, 335) sponsored a press trip to Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, where six U.S. east coast squadrons had completed the transition from the aging Lockheed P-3C Orion four-engine turboprop to the Poseidon, a Boeing 737-800ERX derivative with reinforced 737-900 wings. Last month, the press visited Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound north of Seattle, Washington. There, west coast squadrons are undergoing transition training.

From steamy Jacksonville to chilly Whidbey Island there was at least one familiar face—Capt. Andy Miller, officer in charge of P-8 fleet integration with Patrol Squadron Thirty (VP-30), a flight crew training unit, said he accepted the Navy’s offer to lead the P-3 to P-8 transition on both coasts.

VP-4, “The Skinny Dragons,” achieved safe-for-flight certification to operate the P-8A on May 5 at Whidbey Island, becoming the first U.S. west coast squadron to complete the transition. Formerly based at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, the squadron had received two of the seven Poseidons it will operate for a scheduled deployment next March. VP-47, “The Golden Swordsmen,” was next in line to complete the transition.

Jacksonville-based VP-16, the “War Eagles,” became the first operational P-8A squadron in December 2013 when it deployed with the jet to Kadena Air Base, Japan, to support the Navy’s 7th Fleet. By 2020, the Navy plans to base six P-8A squadrons at Jacksonville and six at Whidbey Island, Miller said.

Some P-3s will be assigned to training and reserve squadrons after 2020; others have been sent to the aircraft “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. There were 28 P-3s remaining at NAS Whidbey Island, plus a handful at Jacksonville, Navy officers said.

While most P-3 flight training took place on the aircraft, 70 percent of P-8A training is accomplished in a simulator, a major efficiency advantage, Navy officers said. There are 10 CAE-built full-flight simulators at Jacksonville and as of May three of seven planned simulators at Whidbey Island. Transitioning pilots fly 29 four-hour simulator sessions and 40 actual flight hours (50 for commanders), said LCDR Matt Olson assistant officer in charge of the Whidbey Island transition.

P-8A crewmembers described other enhancements the Poseidon brings to the ASW mission. The P-8A has storage capacity for 129 sonobuoys—50 percent more than the P-3 can carry—which are dispensed from rotary launchers in its aft section to detect and track submarines.

The Poseidon’s sensor mix includes SSQ-36 bathythermograph buoys (providing vertical seawater temperature profiles); GPS-enabled SSQ-53G passive and SSQ-62F active sonobuoys; and SSQ-101 multi-static non-coherent source and SSQ-125 multi-static coherent source sonobuoys. Its third generation Multi-Static Active Coherent (MAC) acoustic search system makes use of multiple receiver buoys in a multistatic field to support wide-area searches with greater sensitivity in a wider variety of ocean acoustic environments.

A planned upgrade, the Boeing-built High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Capability (HAAWC) air-launched accessory kit adds GPS guidance and folding wings to the Raytheon MK 54 torpedo, turning it into a glide weapon the Poseidon can release from has high as 30,000 feet; it will undergo flight testing this year. The P-8A cradles five MK 54 torpedoes or MK 82 depth charges in its belly weapons bay, plus AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles on four wing stations. “This is going to be great for our high-altitude ASW,” remarked Lieutenant Max Casillas, a VP-4 tactical coordinator.

The P-8A operates from a ceiling of 41,000 feet down to 200 feet above the water’s surface. “We’re not going as low as that because we don’t need to,” Olson said. “We’re down to 500, 1,000, 1,500 (feet), so we’re still low,” he added. “Because of the speeds, the turn rates (of the P-8) we’re still able to do all the same stuff as with the P-3. It’s good to go down there to show force, too.”

Boeing was under contract with the U.S. Navy for 91 P-8As and with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for 12. The first two of nine Poseidons the UK plans to buy were contained in $2.2 billion Lot 8 full-rate production contract the Naval Air Systems Command awarded Boeing on March 30. As of that contract award, Boeing had delivered 53 Poseidons to the U.S. Navy and two to the RAAF.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy had received eight P-8Is and was under contract for four additional aircraft. Boeing started delivering the P-8I with India-unique design features and indigenous subsystems in May 2013.

Among other pending users, Norway plans to buy five P-8As, for which Boeing awaited a foreign military sales contract from the Navy. New Zealand has expressed a need for up to four Poseidons, according to a Pentagon notification to the U.S. Congress in late April. Weeks after that, Saudi Arabia was revealed as a potential seventh P-8 customer when the White House announced a $110 billion arms package during a visit by President Donald Trump to Riyadh in May.

 

[timepass]

Submarines are increasingly lurking in seas around the world, and the US Navy's high-tech Poseidon is there to hunt them

"For NATO members and other countries, augmenting antisubmarine abilities means not only adding ships but also advanced maritime-patrol aircraft to scour the sea. A number of aircraft on the market fill this role, but the US-made P-8A Poseidon is among the most sophisticated

In 2004, the US Navy picked the P-8A Poseidon to succeed the P-3 Orion, which had been in operation since the 1960s. The first Poseidon entered service in 2013, and more than 60 are in service now."

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[timepass]

100th P-8 Poseidon manufactured at Boeing facility.....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1929741204000269

The Boeing P-8 Poseidon (Multimission Maritime Aircraft) is developed for the USN, The aircraft is a modified version of 737-800ERX. Currently P-8 is serving US Navy (89 in service 33 on order) Indian Navy (6 in service ,4 more on order)and The Royal Australian Air Force (2 in service, 10 on order)

>> Role:
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
Anti-surface warfare (ASUW)
Shipping interdiction
Early warning self-protection (EWSP)/Electronic support measures (ESM).

>> Weapons:
Torpedoes
Harpoon AshM
Mines