#boeing #p8aposeidon #aerospace #manufacturing #navy #engineering At the end of last month, Boeing handed over the seventh production P-8A Poseidon to the US Navy, marking the first delivery from the second low-rate initial-production (LRIP) contract awarded in November 2011.
Rick Heerdt, Boeing vice-president and P-8 program manager, said: “This is our second P-8A delivery of 2013, and we’ll continue to provide the Navy with new Poseidon aircraft at a rate of nearly one a month. We’ve got a full factory of P-8As for the US Navy and P-8I aircraft for India.”
Boeing is to build and support 24 P-8A aircraft as part of three LRIP contracts awarded in 2011 and 2012. The Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8As, which are based on the Next Generation Boeing 737-800 platform. The aircraft provides broad long-range maritime-patrol capabilities — anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — and will replace the Navy’s P-3 fleet.