The fifth of nine Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA1 maritime multi-mission aircraft (MMA) for the Royal Air Force (RAF) arrived in the United Kingdom on 2 February 2021.
The fifth of nine Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA1 maritime multi-mission aircraft (MMA) for the Royal Air Force (RAF), aircraft ZP805 named Fulmar, seen in the US prior to its delivery to the United Kingdom on 2 February 2021. (Boeing)
Aircraft ZP805, Fulmar (named after HMS Fulmar, the former name of the type’s homebase of RAF Lossiemouth), flew into RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland to join ZP801 Pride of Moray, ZP802 City of Elgin, ZP803 Terence Bulloch DSO DFC, and ZP804 Spirit of Reykjavik that had already been delivered. All nine aircraft are due to be in the United Kingdom by the end of 2021.
Poseidon operations are being flown by 120 Squadron and 201 Squadron, with 54 Squadron serving as the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). 201 Squadron will be stood up as a second operational unit at a later date. With the greatest maximum take-off weight of any dedicated maritime patrol aircraft in the market (85,139 kg), the P-8A is equipped with the Raytheon AN/APY-10 maritime surveillance radar and L3 Wescam MX-20HD digital electro-optical/infrared sensors. It has the capacity to carry 129 sonobuoys and the full panoply of anti-submarine and anti-surface weaponry in its internal weapons bay as well as on underwing hardpoints. There are six mission workstations in the main cabin, although there is plenty of room and the necessary power and cooling for expansion.
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