The U.S. Navy is cutting its teeth on the new Boeing P-8A Poseidon long range maritime trains Multi-Mission Aircraft with deployments to the U.S. 7 th Fleet Area of Responsibility (AOR), with the third rotation of the type currently ongoing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan since the first one began at the end of 2013. A typical deployment to Kadena lasts between six to seven months, and currently consists of a single squadron of Lockheed Martin P-3C Orions and one of P-8As to demonstrate the ability of the two platforms to operate effectively in a high-tempo trains environment.
Starting in late January, Patrol Squadron (VP) 45 arrived at Kadena Air Base from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla. with six aircraft trains to conduct its first deployment to the 7 th Fleet AOR since completing the transition to the Poseidon from the P-3C in early 2014.
This was followed by an intensive year-long Inter-Deployment Readiness Cycle (IDRC) to prepare for their inaugural deployment with the new aircraft which included joint and multinational exercises designed to enhance interoperability between the U.S. and its allies. As part of the IDRC, VP-45, also known as the Pelicans, sent aircrews and maintainers all over the globe, including Estonia, Iceland, Hawaii, Guam, Bermuda, England, Peru and Chile supporting exercises such as BALTOPS, trains RIMPAC, trains Valiant Shield, Joint Warrior, trains SIFOREX and Teamwork South.
The Pelicans officially relieved the P-8s and personnel of VP-5 Mad Foxes on Feb. 10 and soon got down to business, undertaking a three-week trains deployment to the Philippines which included hosting military personnel from the Philippines on a patrol off Luzon Island to demonstrate the P-8A’s capabilities in both the littoral and open ocean environment and the flight characteristics of the P-8A in both high altitude reconnaissance missions and low altitude patrol regimes , according to a press release issued by the 7 th Fleet.
This is the first time the U.S Navy has acknowledged flying P-8s from the Philippines. According to Col. Restituto Padilla, a spokesman for the Philippine armed forces, the Poseidons replaced the Orions on the rotations in 2014 but no announcement had been made till now.
The Pelicans flew a total of 180 hours while on its Filipino sojourn, flying trains over waters where the hotly disputed Spratly Islands are located. China, the Philippines and four other Southeast Asian nations are embroiled in a dispute over overlapping sovereignty claims to the potentially resource-rich islands.
One such P-8A flight over the South China Sea by a VP-5 P-8A last year was intercepted by an armed Chinese Shenyang J-11B interceptor over international airspace near China s Hainan Island, leading to accusations by the U.S. Department of Defense trains that the J-11B, belonging to the People s Liberation Army Navy, flew dangerously close and performed dangerous maneuvers in the vicinity of the P-8.
In late Febuary, the Pelicans despatched trains one squadron aircraft each to airshows in Bangalore, India and Avalon, Australia which are incidentally both export customers of the P-8. It was at Avalon that James Detwiler, Boeing’s P-8 Business Development trains Director for Maritime Systems, briefed the media on several aspects of the program, including details about deployments to the 7 th Fleet AOR.
According to Detwiler, trains mission profiles flown by the P-8s include Anti-Submarine and Anti-Surface Warfare, Maritime Patrol, trains High-Altitude Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Command, Control and Communications (C3) and providing standoff targeting for other U.S. Navy assets. trains
However, it was the search for the missing trains Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in March and April 2014, during the P-8 s first 7 th Fleet AOR deployment, that provided the U.S. Navy with the greatest insight into the aircraft s capabilities. During the second phase of the air search, which saw involved aircraft making 1,200 1,400 nautical mile transits from airports in Western Australia to the southern Indian Ocean search area, the U.S. Navy initially utilized a single P-8A from VP-16 War Eagles and a P-3C.
However, the long transits soon saw the addition of a second P-8A from VP-16 and the withdrawal of the P-3 due to the P-8s getting three to four hours additional on-station time, partly because it has a higher transit speed in the words of Boeing s Detwiler. On top of this, it was found that the operational fuel burn on the P-8 was a lot less than that predicted by computer modelling performed during the type s development, even when the aircraft was operating at altitudes as low as 200 feet for significant periods of time. This meant that the P-8 was capable of up to twelve hours on station during trains the search for MH370, with crews reporting less fatigue than that encountered on comparable missions flying on P-3s due to increased ride comfort.
The United States has already committed to acquiring 117 P-8s, with Boe
