P-8 To Begin Navy Flight Testing This Month

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, T1, is expected to begin flight-testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., this month, according to program officials. The second test aircraft, T2, with mission systems installed, is expected to arrive at Patuxent River in the summer.

Capt. Leon Bacon, the Navy’s deputy program manager for the P-8 and the lead of the Integrated Product Team, said T1, which arrived at Patuxent River on April 10, is receiving modifications to its fuel system and going through ground testing. T1 subsequently will begin air worthiness and envelop expansion testing.

Boeing has built, or is building, three flight test aircraft, two static and fatigue test articles, and three aircraft for operational test and evaluation. The Navy plans to procure 117 production aircraft. India is purchasing eight P-8I versions directly from Boeing.

While speaking to reporters May 3 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Bacon laid out the road map for the production, with Increment 1 to result in an initial operational capability in 2013.

Increment 2, to be introduced in 2016, will include mulitstatic active acoustic sensor capability and the High-Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Concept capability, a glider-flown torpedo that will be able to be launched from high altitudes and receive target position updates in flight. Increment 3, scheduled for 2019, will include improved network architecture and a new anti-surface weapon.