RAF receives final P-8A Poseidon

Boeing has announced it successfully delivered the ninth and final P-8A Poseidon to the RAF, all nine aircraft have been delivered within the last two years.

The aircraft arrived in Scotland in February 2020 and IOC was declared in April of the same year. The P-8A arrived at RAF Lossiemouth on 11 January.

A new facility was designed and built to house the RAF’s P-8A Poseidon fleet. It was a £100 million joint MoD-Boeing investment and was handed over to the RAF in June 2020.

In December 2020, the RAF announced that RAF Lossiemouth would also be home to its future fleet of E-7 Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft, with the first two currently undergoing modification in Birmingham.

The Poseidon supports anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface unit warfare, surveillance and long-range SAR for the UK. More than a dozen UK-based suppliers produce components for the P-8, making up 5% of every P-8 aircraft.

According to Shephard Defence Insight, in 2019, the RAF began the process of ordering the P-8A. The number grew to nine as the final batch of four aircraft was contracted in a $2.4 billion deal, including aircraft for the USN and Norway.

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

P-8 Poseidon