PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy aerial surveillance experts are asking the Boeing Co. to provide upgrade kits to give the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet aircraft an open-systems network-ready avionics architecture and network-enabled weapons.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $31.7 million order on Tuesday to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in Seattle for P-8A increment 3 retrofit A-kits for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities.
The Poseidon's increment 3 focuses on network-ready open-systems electronics architecture and network-enabled weapons, and is part of the Navy's plan to replace its fleet of P-3 Orion turboprop maritime patrol aircraft with the Poseidon.
The increment 3 retrofit kit is a major upgrade program that involves a hardware and installation package for improving P-8As with enhanced ASW, anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems.
Sensors and processing
These kits include new airframe racks, radomes, antennas, sensors, wiring, improved digital signal processing, security architecture, wideband satellite communications, ASW signals intelligence, track management, and acoustics upgrades.
Key enhancements involve upgraded communications and acoustics, digital signal processing for improved search, detection, location, and targeting. These changes enable aircrews to handle complex data fusion from several different sensors. The program covers more than 130 Navy P-8As.
The aerial surveillance Poseidon is a militarized version of the Boeing 737 single-aisle jetliner, while the much-older P-3 is a militarized version of the Lockheed Martin L-188 Electra four-engine turboprop passenger plan, which has been flying since the late 1950s.
Harpoon anti-ship missile
The P-8A Poseidon increment 3 retrofit kits will enable the aircraft to carry the Harpoon Block II+ anti-ship missile and Link 16 datalink, as well as carry out communications upgrades.
The P-8A aircraft already in service will be retrofitted to the increment 3 standard with network-ready electronics and weapons. The P-8A had completely upgraded software when it became fully operational in 2023. The Australian air force has committed to acquiring 15 P-8A Poseidon aircraft. Boeing has been developing, integrating, and testing increment 3 upgrade kits since June 2016.
On this order Boeing will do the work in Jacksonville, Fla.; St. Louis; and Mesa, Ariz., and should be finished by January 2027. For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/company/about-bds/, or Naval Air Systems Command at Paste link here.
