Boeing has received the third phase of low-rate initial production orders from the US Navy for the P-8A Poseidon.
The US$1.9bn contract for 11 aircraft will take the total USN fleet to 24. Boeing has so far delivered three production P-8A aircraft, built alongside the company’s commercial 737-800 aircraft. The USN is slated to purchase 117 aircraft to replace its P-3 fleet.
The RAAF is planning to replace the AP-3C Orion maritime patrol fleet with the P-8A platform under AIR 7000 Phase 2B, although the project was delayed by one year in the 2012-13 budget. Second-pass approval is now expected in 2014.
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Bill
says:It was mentiond earlier in this piece by, Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld, that the FA-18 Hornet replaced the Mirage fighters. I thought the F-111 ‘Ardvark’ replaced the Mirage jets around 1967 till 1999 such as the Raaf 6th squadron. If my memory serves me correct the aircraft served our country well until they were superseded by the Hornets, which by the way are an exceptional fighter also.