US Navy asks Boeing to accelerate P-8A deliveries

The US Navy has asked Boeing to make good on a four-year-old promise to accelerate deliveries of P-8A Poseidon long-range maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, following last December's grounding of around a quarter of its Lockheed P-3C Orions.

"We're working with the navy right now on a capacity analysis to understand what the possible rates out of the factory are," says Boeing Integrated Defense Systems P-8A programme manager Bob Feldmann. "There's a gap in capability that needs to be filled."

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice-president P-8A Mo Yahyavi says the manufacturer believes it can build "18-24 airplanes per year" for the USN and international customers. The navy has ordered 108 aircraft for service-entry from 2013, to be delivered at a rate of 13 a year.

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