Navy Receives 25th P-8A, 1st Aircraft of Last LRIP Lot

June 03, 2015

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The first P-8A Poseidon aircraft of Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lot 4 takes off from a Boeing facility in Seattle June 2, embarking on the five-hour ferry flight to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, where it will join Air Test and Evaluation Squadron One to  temporarily support operational test efforts.

This arrival is the 25th aircraft to join the Navy's current P-8 inventory.

Lot 4 is comprised of the final 13 LRIP aircraft. Full-Rate Production (FRP) manufacturing begins next month with the first FRP aircraft joining the Navy in 2016.

As the transition from P-3C Orion to P-8A Poseidon continues, the Navy will use the aircraft for broad-area anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance training and operational missions.

Source : Naval Air Systems Command