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David Cameron and George Osborne will be persuaded to part with the cash to buy a fleet of jets to hunt Vladimir Putin's nuclear submarines, which have regularly been patrolling the coast of Britain in recent months. Often the Russian underwater vessels have only been discovered after colliding with private boats and now Government ministers are eager to plug the gap in defences with aircraft to track them. Around a dozen top of the range planes will be bought for the RAF over the next two years. These are likely to include the US developed Boeing Poseidon P8, designed for...

Boeing Co. said it’s completed a series of tests of its new P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine airplane in Seattle, with tests being described as “a major milestone.” The U.S. Navy is slated to buy 117 of the maritime and patrol aircraft, which are derived from a 737 fuselage. Spirit AeroSystems Inc. in Wichita makes most of the 737 airframe. The P-8A aircraft contains sophisticated detection equipment and weaponry that are designed to find and sink submarines that could threaten aircraft carriers. The complete P-8A program will be worth more than $40 billion. The airplane that Boeing tested in Seattle was subjected...

In a time of shrinking budgets, the U.S. Navy is making a big investment in intelligence. While plans to buy over a hundred P-8A maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and nearly as many EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft are obvious intel efforts, less obvious are the big buys of LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) class vessels and Virginia class attack subs (SSNs). These ships and subs are expected to do a lot of intel work. The LCS, mainly because it is optimized for coastal work, and quick changes in its mission equipment. Since the end of the Cold War, it's become more widely known...

Final assembly starts on the first of Navy P-8A Poseidon planes that could be Renton's last 737s Although The Boeing Co. lost the competition to supply air-refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force, it still has one major military aircraft development program in the works.Starting next year, it will deliver the first of what could be more than 100 737s, modified with bomb bay doors and weapon pylons under the wings, to the U.S. Navy. Over the next decade or more, the P-8A Poseidon will replace the aging fleet of prop-engine Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion planes that have been used...

I am pleased to announce that the Government has given first pass approval for AIR 7000 Phase 2 – a $4 billion project for Defence to acquire a manned Maritime Patrol and Response Aircraft (MPRA). The manned MPRA, in conjunction with the Multi-mission Unmanned Aerial System being acquired by Defence under AIR 7000 Phase 1, will replace the capability currently provided by the AP-3C Orion. The AP-3C Orion is planned to be retired in 2018 after over 30 years of service. First pass approval has been granted to allow Defence to commence formal negotiations with the United States Navy (USN)...

1,600 working on Boeing jet to hunt and sink submarines By Steve Wilhelm Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET July 16, 2006 Boeing's bid to replace the Navy's submarine-killing aircraft with one based on Boeing's smallest jet has grown into Western Washington's largest Defense Department project. About 1,600 people in Renton and Kent are working to design the P-8A, which is essentially a Boeing 737-800 outfitted with an advanced array of submarine-detecting equipment and manned by a crew of nine.

New Delhi: A high-level team from Boeing will give the Navy a classified briefing this week on the P-8A Maritime Multimission Aircraft (MMA), a futuristic reconnaisance and oceanic warfare jet to be rolled out by 2013 for the US Navy. This afternoon, Boeing president & CEO James McNerney paid a 10-minute courtesy call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his office. Both Boeing and the Pentagon are keen to engage the Indian Navy as a technical partner in the $3.89 billion P-8A programme — an unprecedented proposal that would have remained a pipedream if it wasn't for the new strategic...

St. Louis, April 28, 2005 – The U.S. Navy's P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program has successfully completed its second major review since contract award and received approval from the technical review board (TRB) to proceed toward the design phase. "The MMA team was extremely well prepared," said Stu Young, chairman of the System Functional Review (SFR) review board and technical director for the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems division. "The TRB had no reservations about general preparedness to proceed to preliminary design. This team is setting the standard by which others should be judged. Their progress since award...