Effort to acquire eight P-8A for German naval aviation more or less on schedule, while questions over MAWS linger on.
The first of eight P-8A Poseidon on order for German Marineflieger naval aviation has conducted a first flight in Seattle, WA. Bundeswehr procurement office BAAINBw has released a short statement via their WhatsApp social media-channel, translation follows:
“This week the P-8A Poseidon has taken off for a first flight over Seattle (USA). Only in the beginning of February the first aircraft finished receiving its paintjob. Now it was ready for take-off, although only for a transit flight to another Boeing-facility, where fitting out of equipment such as sensors will occur.
The German Navy will receive the first aircraft in August this year already. The P-8A Poseidon are the new maritime patrol aircraft for Marineflieger, which will support the navy for example in anti-submarine warfare by air.”
Naval News previously reported on this procurement, originally intended as a bridging solution replacing obsolete P-3C Orion in German service. With the addition of a further three to the original five aircraft however the prospects of MAWS, the maritime airborne warfare system originally pursued by Germany and France to jointly procure new MPA appear to have diminished substantially.
According to previous reporting the German Navy expects to have received all eight P-8A by 2026. That schedule so far has suffered a delay of four to eight months, with an anticipated hand-over of the first airframe originally in the fourth quarter 2024 or first quarter 2025. The first flight of a Marineflieger Poseidon now implies a possible conclusion of final delivery in late 2026 or early 2027.
