Stephen Trimble on the Dew Line blog is reporting that the Boeing P-8A Poseidon has secretly acquired a new role for the US Navy that will transform the maritime patrol aircraft into a rival of the US Air Force's Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).
Details of the mission surfaced today in a press release issued by Raytheon, which announced receiving a multi-year contract to develop an advanced new radar for the P-8A programme.
More details at http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/07/p-8a-secretly-acquires-mission.html