Boeing is receiving a $11.1 million modification to an existing contract for additional ground repair work on the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the Department of Defense announced on Wednesday.
The repair work for the modified contract will be performed in Jacksonville, Fla., other sites throughout the United States and locations in Japan, Australia and Italy. The modification is expected to be fulfilled by June 2018 with funding to be delivered on a per-order basis.
The P-8 Poseidon is a maritime intelligence, reconnaissance, and anti-submarine aircraft used by the U.S. and Indian navies and the Royal Australian Air Force.
It is replacing the older P-3 Orion series of patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. Based off the Boeing 737, it has a crew of nine and a flight radius of 1,400 miles, including four hours on patrol station.
The Poseidon carries passive sonar systems through sonobuoy, synthetic aperture radar, high resolution optical/infrared sensors and a magnetic anomaly detector to locate enemy submarines by the magnetic field generated by their metallic hulls. It can be armed with torpedoes and missiles for anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare.
There are 50 Poseidon's are currently in U.S. service, with future deliveries expected to bring the fleet to 109. Alongside the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle it will form the backbone of the U.S. Navy's land-based long-range maritime patrol force.
Perlan glider reaches 32,500 feet eyes world aviation record
Airbus Perlan Mission II, an initiative to fly a glider without an engine to the edge of space to collect ground-breaking insights on climate change, weather and high-altitude flight, this week reached a new high altitude in its second season of flight testing in El Calafate, Argentina.
Pilots Jim Payne, Morgan Sandercock, Tim Gardner and Miguel Iturmendi have soared the pressurized Perlan … read more
