SEATTLE, March 6 (UPI) -- A new maritime surveillance aircraft by Boeing has completed its first flight, demonstrating its airworthiness, the company announced.
Field Aviation, which is teamed with a Boeing in developing the aircraft, conducted the flight test of the demonstrator plane late last month at Pearson International Airport in Toronto using a Bombardier Challenger 604 aircraft,
The aircraft's structures and systems had been modified into the MSA configuration, Boeing said.
"We accomplished everything we set out to achieve," Field Aviation pilot Craig Tylski said. "The aerodynamic performance was right on the money and even with the additional aerodynamic shapes, such as the radome, the demonstrator performed like a normal aircraft."
Additional airworthiness flights are scheduled for the next two months, followed by the aircraft being outfitted with MSA mission systems at the Boeing plant in Seattle, Wash.
Boeing said the MSA will use technologies developed for its P-8A Poseidon program. The baseline configuration will feature an active electronically scanned array multi-mode radar, an Electro/Optical/Infrared sensor, electronic support measures, a communications intelligence sensor and an automated identification system.