Boeing has won a $2.46 billion deal to build 20 more P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft — 16 for the U.S. Navy and four for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), according to a Thursday contract announcement from the Pentagon.
The contract modification will pay for 20 Lot III P-8s that will primarily be built at Boeing’s facilities in Seattle, Wash. The announcement estimated the work would complete in December 2018.
“We continue to hear feedback from our Navy customer about the incredible capabilities of the P-8A,” said James Dodd, Boeing vice president and program manager of P-8 Programs. “The deployed squadrons tell us it’s exceeding expectations – we’re looking forward to providing even more capability to the fleet and to Australia.”
Replacing the Navy’s Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion and the RAAF’s AP-3C maritime surveillance aircraft – the 737-based Poseidon started operations with the Navy in late 2013.
The Navy plans to eventually purchase 117 Poseidons to replace the Orions. Last year, Boeing was awarded a contract to build Australia’s first four P-8As.
The following is the complete Jan. 28, 2016 contract announcement from the Department of Defense.
The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is being awarded a $2,469,582,995 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-14-C-0067) to exercise an option for the manufacture and delivery of 20 Lot III full-rate production P-8A aircraft for the Navy (16), and the Government of Australia (4). In addition, this option provides for efforts related to obsolescence monitoring, change assessment, and integrated baseline/program management reviews. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (80 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (3 percent); Greenlawn, New York (2.8 percent); Cambridge, United Kingdom (1.7 percent); North Amityville, New York (1.1 percent); Rockford, Illinois (0.9 percent); Rancho Santa Margarita, California (0.7 percent); Salt Lake City, Utah (0.6 percent); and various locations with the U.S. (9.2 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018. Fiscal 2016 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,052,571,034 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the Navy ($2,052,571,034; 83 percent); and the Government of Australia ($417,011,961; 17 percent), under a cooperative agreement. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
