US Navy Expected To Declare Boeing's P-8A Spy Plane Ready For Use

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/boeings-new-p-8a-spy-plane-ready-for-use-navy-2013-11


Boeing Co.'s new U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft is officially unveiled in 2009, in Renton, Wash. Navy officials are expected to announce the aircraft is now ready for operational use. The plane, a military version of Boeing's 737-800 passenger jet, will be used for a variety of functions, including anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and patrol by the Navy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is expected to announce soon that Boeing Co's P-8A aircraft, a long-range maritime surveillance plane based on the company's 737 airliner, is ready for initial operational use, sources familiar with the program said.
The Navy plans to buy 117 of the new anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare planes to replace its P-3 spy planes built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

Boeing won the contract to build the P-8A planes in 2004 and the plane had its first flight in 2009.
The Navy's declaration of "initial operational capability," or IOC, will pave the way for the plane's first deployment in December, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Boeing, which is also building eight of the new planes for India, will have a P-8A aircraft on display at the Dubai air show that begins on Sunday.

***how much for this fucker?

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/boeings-new-p-8a-spy-plane-ready-for-use-navy-2013-11#ixzz2kkqFzHHu

[Ptah]

1. US$201.4 million

Number built 15 as of July 2013
(6 test aircraft, 9 production aircraft)


Program cost
US$33.638 billion (for FY2013)


Unit cost
US$201.4 million (FY13)
US$275.7M (with R&D, FY13)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-8_Poseidon

[xchrom]

3. +1

[Owl]

2. What do they do with 117 of them? Are they flown nearly non-stop guzzling fuel too?

[CFLDem]

4. More corporate welfare

for the blue/grey collar workers and their union who built that and for the white collar engineers and managers that designed and supervised it.

Someone stop the madness!!!

[xchrom]

6. less money for bridges, roads, court houses, schools, etc

if you're going to rip off the tax payer -- no better place than the MIC

[Lurks Often]

5. It replaces the 30+ year old P3C Orion, the military variant of the old Lockheed Electra,

which is reaching the end of it's service life.