WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2019) The US Navy has issued a $2.4 billion contract for 19 additional long-range Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, Boeing announced in a news release on Monday.
"The US Navy has awarded Boeing a $2.4 billion production contract for the next 19 P-8A Poseidon aircraft," the release stated. "The contract includes ten aircraft to add to the current inventory of P-8As in the US Navy fleet, all five jets... for Norway and the four aircraft remaining for the United Kingdom."
Boeing explained that the United Kingdom will receive their first aircraft in 2019 and Norway will begin receiving teh aircraft in 2021.
The P-8 is a long-range multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. It includes a bomb bay and pylons for weapons and performs anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it scrambled a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet to intercept a US P-8A over the Baltic Sea. The ministry said Russian airspace control systems discovered an air target approaching Russia's state border over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.
