AirForces Monthly – June 2018

n its November 2015

Strategic Defence

and Security Review

(SDSR) the British government

announced it was seeking to

meet an “urgent anti-submarine

warfare driven requirement”

by purchasing nine Boeing

P-8A Poseidon MPAs.

The first aircraft to provide the

Royal Air Force with a Persistent

Wide Area Surveillance –

Maritime (PWAS-M) capability

is expected to arrive at RAF

Lossiemouth, Scotland, late next

year. This £2.1bn project requires

an initial operating capability

by April 2020 to a deliver ASW

and anti-surface warfare (ASuW)

capabilities for the RAF.

The procurement process

formally began in August 2016

when the US Navy, acting for the

UK government under the Foreign

Military Sales (FMS) process,

signed a $68m contract for the

long-lead items for the first two

aircraft. The purchase of the

P-8A is being run in co-operation

with the US Navy’s Air Systems

Command, known as NAVAIR,

which is acting on behalf of

the UK in the FMS contract

negotiations with Boeing and

other equipment suppliers.

Procurement activity accelerated

in March last year when the first

contracts were placed for full-

production aircraft for the UK

as part of a batch or Lot of 17

aircraft for the US Navy. The

delivery schedule for these Lot 8

aircraft was laid out by the RAF to

AFM and envisages two aircraft

being handed over to the UK in

the financial year 2019-20, three

aircraft in 2020-21 and the last

four in 2021-22. The introduction

to service of the first UK P-8A

is scheduled for next April.

So far, the UK has decided not to

request any major modifications to

the aircraft it is buying, except for

some UK-specific cryptographic

elements in the communications

systems and application of RAF

roundels on the fuselage and

wings. This also had the benefit

of speeding delivery of aircraft to

meet timelines set by the RAF.

Two new RAF squadrons are to

be formed to operate the UK’s

P-8As, with the first standing

up this year. RAF Wg Cdr

James Hanson is to oversee the

formation of No 120 Squadron

from April 2018. The second

unit, No 201 Squadron, will stand

up in 2021. Both of the new

P-8A units formerly operated the

Nimrod MR2 before the veteran

maritime patrol aircraft was retired

from service in March 2010.

The UK’s P-8As will have an

APY-10 surface surveillance radar

and FLIR sensor turret, be able

to drop the Mk54 Lightweight

Hybrid Torpedo (LHT) and fire

Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon II anti-

ship missiles. To execute its high/

medium-altitude mission profiles

the P-8A is to be provided with the

new High-Altitude ASW Weapon

Capability (HAAWC) variant of the

Mk54 torpedo and a new high-

altitude sonobuoy employment

capability. The aircraft’s anti-

submarine detection capability

is also envisaged as being

dramatically improved by use of

a new technology called multi-

United Kingdom

Back in the business

Above: Flight Lieutenant Robin Butler, RAF, in a P-8A fl ight simulator at

Naval Air Station Jacksonville. RAF Poseidon crews are training with Patrol

Squadron 30 ‘Pro’s Nest’ at the Florida base. US Navy/Mass Communication

Specialist 3rd Class Jason Kofonow

Wg Cdr James Hanson, commanding offi cer of No 120 Squadron, the fi rst RAF Poseidon unit, and his crew in front of a US Navy P-8A at Lossiemouth last July.

From left to right: Master Aircrew Mark Utting, Sqn Ldr Mark Faulds, Wg Cdr James Hanson, Sqn Ldr Ian Tuff, Master Aircrew Paul O’Flaherty. Crown Copyright

I

static acoustic coherence (MAC)

to deliver wide-area underwater

surveillance. Tim Ripley

Future ORBAT

Unit Aircraft Base

No 120

Squadron

P-8A

Poseidon

RAF

Lossiemouth

No 201

Squadron

P-8A

Poseidon

RAF

Lossiemouth

Future Inventory

Aircraft Number

P-8A Poseidon 9

AFM

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #363 JUNE 2018 // 45