Boeing will deliver the US Navy’s first deployable P-8A Poseidon trainers, and has also awarded contracts to Harris Corporation for the provision of sonobuoy launching technology for the aircraft, including those in service with the RAAF.

Under a recently signed contract, from 2019 Boeing will provide seven Deployable Mission Readiness Trainers (DMRTs) to the USN, allowing aircrew and operators to improve their mission readiness even while serving away from home.

DMRTs will [provide] high-fidelity, crew-based training to deployed squadrons

“Training ensures the Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance community is proficient in anti-submarine warfare. By using these trainers, crews are trained without adding flight hours to the aircraft,” Commander John Thoe, P-8A training systems integrated product team lead said. “DMRTs will fulfil these important requirements by providing high-fidelity, crew-based training to deployed squadrons.”

The proposed DMRT design is portable with low-power requirements and includes Boeing’s Weapons Tactics Trainer system, which incorporates sonobuoy and ocean acoustics modelling.

The USN trains P-8A Poseidon aircrews at naval air stations in Jacksonville and Whidbey Island. Seventy per cent of the training for USN P-8A aircrews takes place in simulators and other trainers; the remaining 30 per cent uses the actual aircraft.

Boeing is also under contract to deliver a complete P-8A training system to the Royal Australian Air Force, beginning in 2018. Two Operational Flight Trainers (OFTs) are scheduled for delivery to RAAF Base Edinburgh in late 2017.

Harris will provide single-shot and rotary launchers capable of rapidly deploying up to ten sonobuoys. The lightweight, pneumatic launchers will enable 49 P-8As for US, Australian and UK to safely and effectively deploy sonobuoys, which are essential to conducting underwater acoustic surveillance.

“Harris technology dramatically improves on existing sonobuoy launching capabilities, helping to enable this important mission,” president Harris Electronic Systems Ed Zoiss said.

In related news, a RAAF P-8A Poseidon has completed its first deployment to RMAF Butterworth as part of Operation Gateway. The Poseidon was deployed to Malaysia in support of the Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) of the P-8A as it is introduced to service. This deployment was a key milestone on the path to declaring Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for the aircraft and its system over the next 12 months and marks the first time the type has operated from an overseas environment since delivery in November 2016.

“With this overseas deployment complete, the next step from June through to July will be the completion of the operational evaluation of the Poseidons’s Search and Rescue capability. This will be another important step as we move toward declaring Initial Operational Capability of the P-8A system,” Commander of Surveillance and Response Group, Air Commodore Craig Heap said.