P-8A Poseidon General |
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| Anti-submarine warfare ac |
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P-8A Poseidon Program Milestones |
| Contract received by Boeing |
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| 200th P-A8 Live-Fire Shoot |
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P-8A Poseidon Aircraft Dimensions |
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P-8A Poseidon General Information |
The P-8A Poseidon is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft incorporates an advanced mission system for maximum interoperability in battle space. The P-8A Poseidon is capable of broad-area, maritieme, and littoral operations. Eventually, it is expected that the aircraft will influence how the U.S. Navy's maritime patrol and reconnaissance forces, train, deploy and operate.
The P-8A is derivative of the already succesful Next-Generation Boeing 737-800, and combines performance and reliability with an advanced mission system. It is being developed for the U.S. Navy by a Boeing-led industry team, which consists of CFM International, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, GE Aviation and Spirit AeroSystems. The U.S. Navy plans to operate a total of 108 P-8As in order to replace its fleet of P-3C aircraft. The first P-8A will be delivered in 2009 for flight testing while initial operational capability is slated for 2013. Besides the U.S. Navy, India is currently considering acquisition of the P-8I, which is a derivative of the P-8A designed specifically for the Indian Navy.
The aircraft is being build at the Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington. As the 737-800 serves as the baseline aircraft, the fuselage of the P-8A will be built in Wichita, Kansas, from where it is sent to Renton where final assembly of the aircraft takes place. Besides assembly, flight testing will be conducted from Renton Field while final installation and checkout of the mission system and special flight test instrumentation will be conducted at Boeing Field.
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| P-8A Poseidon Design |
| The P-8A is powered by two CFM56-7 engines, manufactured by CFM International, which is a 50/50 joint company of Snecma Moteurs and General Electric Company. Each engine will provide 27,300 pounds of take-off thrust. The CFM56-7 is one of the world's most reliable engines, having logged more than 30 million flight hours while maintaining a 0.002 percent in-flight shut down rate per 1,000 hours of flight.
The electro-optical/infrared sensor will be provided by the Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector, together with the directional infrared countermeasures system, and the electronic support measures system. Besides this, Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector will develop data links for the P-8A. Planning effort will be supported by the company's Integrated Systems sector.
Raytheon will be the provider of an upgraded APS-137 Maritime Surveillance Radar and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) solutions. They furthermore offer its revolutionary GPS Anti-Jam, Integrated Friend or Foe, and Towed Decoy Self-Protection suites, and the aircraft's Broadcast Info System (BIS) and secure UHF Satcom capability.
Flight Management and Stores Management systems on the P-8A will be provided by GE Aviation. The Flight Management System provides integrated open architecture that is CNS/ATM compatible along with an inherent growth path for upgrades. The Stores Management System provides a comprehensive system for the electronic control of integrated weapons management.
Spirit AeroSystems is the newest member of the industry team building the P-8A. The company formally joined the team in August 2007 and is responsible for building the aircraft's fuselage and airframe tail.
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