First of 15 P-8As Arrives in Canberra

On 16 November, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, MP; the Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon. Christopher Pyne, MP; the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon. Peter Dutton, MP; and the Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Air Marshal Leo Davies, AO, CSC, welcomed the arrival of the first example of the P-8A POSEIDON to arrive in Canberra. This the first of 15 POSEIDONs the government committed to in the 2016 Defence White Paper, of which 12 are already contracted, for delivery by March 2020.

The POSEIDON fleet, together with up to seven MQ-4C TRITON UAS, will provide the RAAF with an advanced Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Response (MISRR) capability to replace the ageing P-3C ORIONs. The POSEIDON will support a full range of tasks, including anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime and overland ISR, electronic support, and a search and rescue capability; it will be networked with other Air Force and ADF maritime capabilities as outlined in the Defence White Paper, as well as being networked with Australian Border Force assets.

The fleet will be based at RAAF Edinburgh, creating and sustaining over 30 direct jobs.