Posted on 02/20/2014 9:09:23 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Australia has confirmed that it will acquire eight Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, with the first examples to be delivered in 2017.
The aircraft will be fully operational by 2021, says prime minister Tony Abbott in a statement. His statement pegs the deal’s value at A$4 billion ($3.6 billion).
“These state-of-the-art aircraft will dramatically boost Australia’s ability to monitor its maritime approaches and patrol over 2.5 million square kilometres of our marine jurisdiction – an area equating to nearly 4 per cent of the world’s oceans,” says Abbott.
Canberra has also approved an option for an additional four examples.
This deal makes Australia the third customer for the aircraft, which is based on the popular 737 airliner. The other two operators are India and the United States navy.
Canberra’s announcement to obtain the P-8A as a replacement for its 19 Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion aircraft has long been anticipated.
In October 2012 it signed a A$73.9 million deal to participate in the further development of the P-8I.
Canberra’s P-8As will work in conjunction with the nation’s planned fleet of high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAVs. It is assessing its UAV options, and it is understood that the Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Triton is the platform most likely to be chosen.
“This project will offer significant opportunities for industry and jobs creation,” says Abbott. “Australian businesses have already won approximately $8.5 million of work associated with Australia’s participation in the P-8A programme and stand to benefit by as much as $1 billion through construction of facilities at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia and elsewhere and work to meet maintenance and other support needs.”
Although Abbot did not detail the planned configuration of the aircraft, they are likely to be similar to the US Navy’s P-8As. New Delhi’s aircraft, designated the P-8I Neptune, have mission systems developed indigenously in India.
The new P-3?
First deployed to Kadena @ Okinawa late last year.
Brand new.
The new P-3?
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I joined the USNR early in my Sr. year of high school at NAS Dallas in 1959. My squadron was flying P2V-2 aircraft, which were not pressurized and were bare-bones like most WWII aircraft. ...The newer aircraft filling that role must be fantastic and much better for the crews who now have to fly longer missions.
This diagram shows the aircraft with a bomb bay. Not being familiar with Navy operations could someone tell me what type of munitions this aircraft can carry?
Harpoon and some of its derivatives - AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER - Air-to-Ground, Air-to-Sea capable missile with a range out to about 150 nautical miles, and Mark 54 Torpedoes.
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