SEATTLE, April 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has received its seventh production P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing.
The aircraft, the first delivery from the second low-rate production contract given the company, is at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., where previously delivered P-8s are being used for crew training.
"This is our second P-8A delivery of 2013 and we'll continue to provide the Navy with new Poseidon aircraft at a rate of nearly one a month," said Rick Heerdt, Boeing vice president and P-8 program manager. "We've got a full factory of P-8As for the U.S. Navy and P-8I aircraft for India, and we're working side-by-side with both customers to introduce the aircraft's advanced capabilities into their fleets."
The P-8A is a militarized version of the 737-800 commercial aircraft and will perform anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Under low-rate production contracts Boeing will build 24 P-8A aircraft. The Navy, however, plans for an eventual fleet of 117 Poseidons.
India has also ordered the long-range aircraft and Australia is looking at procuring them in 2016.
