The 12th production P-8A Poseidon has been delivered to the U.S. Navy by Boeing, enhancing the long-range maritime patrol capabilities of the service.
The P-8A departed Boeing Field in Seattle for Naval Air Station Jacksonville, FL, where it joined the other Poseidon aircraft being used to train Navy crews. The aircraft is the sixth from the second low-rate initial production contract lot awarded in November 2011.
“This is our second-to-last P-8A delivery of 2013 and the program is meeting all cost and schedule milestones,” said Rick Heerdt, Boeing vice president and P-8 program manager. “As we’ve focused on ramping up production and delivering planes, the Navy is preparing for the first P-8A fleet deployment in the coming months.”
Boeing is on contract to build and support 37 P-8A aircraft as part of four LRIP contracts awarded in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8As, which are based on the Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 platform. The versatile multi-mission aircraft provides anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and will replace the Navy P-3 fleet.
Blog Editor Note: Here is our MilcomMP list of P-8A serials and Mode-S hex codes
168428 AE4EB2
168429 AE4EB3
168430 AE4EB4
168431 AE4EB5
168432 AE4EB6
168433 AE4EB7
168434 AE4EB8
168435 AE4EB9
168436 AE4EBA
168437 AE4EBB
168438 AE4EBC
168439 AE4EBD
168440 AE4EBE
These are the airframes sent to the Navy test squadrons
167952 AE222D
167951 AE222C
167953 AE222E
167954 AE222F
167955 AE2230
167956 B6495C