Navy Revs Up Poseidon Spy Plane Program, Soon to Hit 120

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Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

(Washington, D.C.) The increasing global reach of Chinese nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, armed with JL-2 weapons reportedly able to hit parts of the US, continues to inspire an ongoing Navy effort to accelerate production of attack submarines, prepare long-dwell drones for deployment to the Pacific and continue acquisition of torpedo-armed sub-hunting planes such as the P-8/A Poseidon.

The Navy has been moving quickly to increase its fleet of Poseidon’s on an accelerated timetable; in the Navy’s 2020 budget, the service was authorized for a near term increase in Poseidon production by three, moving funding for the year up for nine Poseidons, U.S. Navy officials tell Warrior. Last year, the Navy awarded Boeing a $2.4 billion deal to produce 19 more P-8A Poseidon surveillance and attack planes. The Poseidon increase appears to align with the service’s overall Pacific theater strategy, which makes a point to sustain peaceful, yet vital surveillance and Freedom of Navigation missions in the region.

Navy officials tell Warrior the Poseidon program is at full production, now delivering 1.5 jets per month to U.S. and foreign customers.

“The P-8A Poseidon program has delivered 91 jets to the US Navy, 12 to the Royal Australian Air Force, and one to the UK Royal Air Force, all on or ahead of schedule. The approved US fiscal year 2020 budget funded nine P-8As which will be procured in the eleventh production lot of US Navy P-8A aircraft, manufactured by The Boeing Company.  This will bring the number of jets procured for the US Navy to 120 of the US Navy’s inventory objective of 138 aircraft,” Megan Wasel, spokewsoman for the Navy’s Air Assault and Special Mission programs.

Seeking to overcome the Pacific’s “tyranny of distance” dispersed geography, and track China’s expanding fleet of submarines, the Navy is working with Congress to accelerate and delivery more Virginia-class submarines per year, moving beyond previous plans. The Navy has also been moving to place its new Triton sea drones in Guam.

Interestingly, a Dec. 6 report in the Asia Times cites Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Charles Brown stating that air patrols “in and around the South China Sea continue.