Boeing and Kongsberg will be the prime contractors for P-8 Poseidons’ maintenance and support.
Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace and Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding for P-8 naval patrol planes’ maintenance and support in order to boost new business opportunities and develop local industry in Norway.
Boeing International Strategic Association Vice President Maria Laine said, “Boeing, for the last couple of years, has been working with the Norwegian industry which has proven to be capable of supporting our business with their strong and premium defence industry.”
“The scale, opportunities, and strategic importance of our co-operation strengthen our bonds with Norway and our industrial agreement promises.”
Upgrading P-3 Orion to P-8 Poseidon
MoU between Kongsberg and Boeing includes maintenance and support for the P-8 fleet to be delivered to Norway.
In the process of transition from P-3 Orions to 5 new P-8 Poseidons, Norway is in need of a new center of operations for manufacturing and maintenance as well as additional training facilities for the local Norwegian aviation industry.
Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace Corporation Director Terje Bråthen said “We are pleased to extend our co-operation for more opportunities in the future as support to Norwegian P8 fleet. Co-operating with international platform suppliers is really important for Kongsberg. It also provides Kongsberg with more options for export.”
Boeing and Kongsberg co-operation dates back 20 years ago with NATO AWACS fleet and it will strengthen after the contract for 2017 Norwegian P-8 Poseidon Naval Patrol planes.
Purchase of Norwegian P-8
Previous Minister of Defense Ine Eriksen Søreide on March 29, 2017, in Oslo, announced that Norway had ordered 5 Boeing P-8 Poseidon Naval Patrol planes.
Ordered P-8s are expected to be delivered in 2022 or 2023. P-8s will be replacing older 6 P-3 Orions and 3 Jet Falcon Naval Patrol planes. The aforementioned planes will be serving until they are replaced by the Poseidon.
P-8 Poseidon
P-8 is a long-range and multi-purpose as well as capable of conducting naval patrols. As a military version of Boeing’s new 737 models, P-8 combines high-level performance and security with a system that has operational capability even in the harshest combat scenarios.
P-8 can carry up to 128 SONOBUOY (a sonar device capable of signaling back via radio upon detecting submerged submarines). The plane also features structural modifications to be able to be refueled while airborne.
With over 180,000 hours of flight, P-8 and its variants; P-8I and P-8A, patrolled all over the globe for surface and underwater threats. It was also utilized for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and search and rescue operations.
Poseidon first came into service with US Navy’s VP-16 Patrol Fleet in Okinawan Kadena Air Base.
