P-8

The P‑8A is a military derivative of Boeing’s commercial 737NG

It (is) likely more than eight P‑8As would be required.

airliner, mating a modified 737‑800 fuselage with the wings of the heavier 737‑900 fitted with raked wingtips. The P‑8A features additional structural enhancements, a weapons bay aft of the main wing trailing spar, a row of sensor operator consoles, a galley and a crew rest area in the cabin, and a bolstered electrical generating system based on the same 180kVa generators as used by the Wedgetail to cater for the aircraft’s current and any growth power requirements.

The Poseidon is the third military derivative of the 737NG after the 737‑700 BBJ-based C-40 Clipper cargo and personnel transport and the E-7 Wedgetail/Peace Eagle AEW&C.

The US Navy chose the P‑8 in 2004 to meet its Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) requirement to replace the bulk of its large P‑3C Orion fleet, ahead of Lockheed Martin’s Orion 21/P‑7A proposal, a radically enhanced P‑3 with new GE T407 engines and structural and systems enhancements.

The P‑8A features 30 per cent more cabin space than the P‑3C and has been designed from the start to not only perform the traditional antisubmarine (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) missions, but also for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission in maritime, littoral and overland environments.

The internal weapons bay has five hard points each rated to 650kg, while two hard points on each wing outboard of the engines are rated for 1,360kg, and two hard points in tandem on the centre-forward fuselage are rated for 650kg.

The new integral fuel tank is in addition to six auxiliary fuel tanks carried in the belly of the aircraft, three forward and three aft of the wing box. These six auxilliary tanks are standard fit on the US Navy P‑8A but are ‘delete options’ for international customers with shorter range requirements.

Other key external features include a Wescam MX-20 electro optical/ infrared (EO/IR) turret which retracts into the lower forward fuselage, an ESM dome antenna on the lower fuselage just behind the wing, two CDL antennas in ventral domes aft of the weapons bay, an INMARSAT antenna on the top of the fin and a DIRCM turret similar to that used on the Wedgetail just below the APU exhaust in the rear fuselage.

The US Navy has a program of record requirement for 117 P‑8As and to date has 37 aircraft under contract in four low rate initial production (LRIP) lots. The US Navy will have taken delivery of 13 P‑8As by the end of the year, and will have completed training for three operational squadrons, all of which have converted from the P‑3C Orion. These initial aircraft are being delivered in an Increment 1 baseline configuration which provides for basic ASW and ASuW capabilities.

The US Navy’s requirement calls for a four-hour low-level mission to be conducted 1,200nm (2,220km) from base in a typical hi-lo-hi profile, although this can be extended through the use of air-to-air refuelling via a USAF-type UAARSI receptacle located above the cockpit.

The follow-on Increment 2 configuration will see mostly acoustic insertions to the software, plus a marine Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) tracking receiver capability added. Increment 3 is yet to be fully defined by the US Navy, but will include additional systems integration and net centric enhancements, new weapons, and a SATCOM capability.

A fifth production run is scheduled to be ordered in mid-2014 in which the RAAF’s first P‑8As are expected to be included. In the lead-up to this milestone, the ADF’s AIR 7000 Phase 2B will be sent to government for second pass approval, although the final number of aircraft is yet to be decided. The RAAF currently operates 18 AP‑3C Orions in the maritime and overland intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role.

Twenty P‑3Cs were acquired in two batches of 10 in the 1970s and 1980s to replace P‑2V Neptune and earlier P‑3B Orions. One P‑3C crashed at Cocos Island in 1991 while another was retired in 2012.

Eighteen RAAF AP‑3Cs were substantially upgraded in the late 1990s under Project AIR 5276 Sea Sentinel program with a new radar, avionics, EO/IR sensor, electronic support measures (ESM) and other enhancements, while the 19th airframe was reportedly modified for a specialist electronic and signals intelligence (ELINT/SIGINT) role similar to that of US Navy EP‑3E Aries II aircraft under Project Peacemate.

As reported in the last issue, Chief of Air Force AIRMSHL Geoff Brown told Australian Aviation in August that Defence has been reassessing its planned AIR 7000 force mix and that it was likely more than the eight P‑8As, which went through first pass approval way back in 2007, would be required. The RAAF has looked closely at the planned US Navy force mix which has been set at a roughly 2-1 ratio of The P‑8 features the 737‑800 fuselage mated with -900 series wings and the wingtips of the 767‑400. manned versus unmanned platforms and has amended its requirement to mirror this.

With as many as 12 P‑8s now on the RAAF’s radar, this reassessment will probably have an effect on the Phase 1B unmanned element of the AIR 7000 project, likely to be fulfilled by the Northrop Grumman MQ‑4C Triton, a specialist maritime variant of the RQ‑4B Block 30 Global Hawk.

Long held up as the likely Phase 1B solution, at least seven/eight Global Hawks/Tritons was thought to be an optimal number to patrol Australia’s vast maritime interests, but this will now likely be pared back to six.

Brown told AA he is unsure whether the larger number of aircraft will be requested at second pass or whether the original requirement of eight will be requested with a follow-on order to be built into a future, but as yet un-funded phase of the AIR 7000 project.

The RAAF’s initial P‑8As will be delivered with the Increment 2 configuration, but planning for Phase 2C of AIR 7000 should see all aircraft upgraded to the Increment 3 standard in time for a RAAF FOC in the early 2020s. Like the ADF has done with the F/A-18F Super Hornet and the MH-60R Romeo, initial RAAF P‑8 training will probably be embedded within a US Navy squadron until sufficient crews and maintainers can be generated and a support system can be established to sustain operations from RAAF Edinburgh.

The first aircraft are expected to be delivered in the 2016/17 timeframe with IOC scheduled for 2019/20.

Importantly for Australia, apart from the traditional ASW/ASuW missions, the P‑8 will also have an overland capability. Boeing says the P‑8 is equally adept in the overland ISR environment, while also being able to operate over water at the same low altitudes and speeds as the P‑3. The P‑8A will have a maximum takeoff weight of 85,700kg, a cruise speed of Mach 0. 78, and a service ceiling of 41,000ft, substantially faster and higher than the P‑3.

Due to its commonality with the commercial 737, despite being early in its build run, the P‑8 program is already benefiting from the economies of scale of the 737 program which is currently being built at the rate of 38 aircraft per month. The 737 and P‑8 lines are co-located at Boeing’s Renton facility in Seattle and share common supply chains and tooling, albeit the P‑8 line is quarantined due to US ITARS regulations.

Boeing hopes to sell the P‑8 to up to 18 nations, all of which it says either operate P‑3s now or have a high-end maritime surveillance capability requirement.

While the P‑8 will also have an ESM capability, it won’t feature a comprehensive suite capable of performing high-end ELINT and SIGINT missions. To this end, Boeing is working on a company-funded study in case the nascent ‘EP‑X’ program to replace the US Navy’s EP‑3Es – and by inference, possibly Australia’s Peacemate configured AP‑3C – receives funding.