Boeing Co. won a $194 million contract to update software and equipment used by crews training to work on the U.S. Navy’s P-8A Poseidon, a maritime patrol jet based on the planemaker’s widely used 737 model.
Under the four-year deal, the Chicago-based company said, it will upgrade equipment at three sites for the Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force to reflect the Poseidon’s latest configuration. The training system, which includes simulators, allows military personnel to prepare for missions while reducing expenses for wear and tear and fuel that would be incurred in use of the planes themselves.
“With increasing demand for realistic training that is concurrent and affordable, the P-8A training system gives pilots, air crews and maintainers the most immersive environment at a fraction of the cost,” said Pat Walsh, vice president of Navy and Marine Corps services for Boeing. A retired admiral, Walsh commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet from 2009 to 2012.
About 80 percent of the contract’s cost, or $154.8 million, is covered by the Navy, while the remaining 20 percent is paid by Australia, the Defense Department said.
The twin-engine Poseidon, designed primarily for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare as well as surveillance operations, has state-of-the-art radar systems and can operate with a smaller crew than its predecessor, the Orion P-3C, according to the Navy, which had 64 of the jets as of January.
The Orion, built by Lockheed Martin, began military service in the early 1960s and carried a crew of 11.
Earlier this week, Boeing landed a $2.9 billion order from the Air Force for 18 KC-46 jets, the new refueling tankers based on its commercial 767 wide-body that completed Federal Aviation Administration certification last week. The previous month, the company won an $805 million contract to develop the first unmanned plane for Navy aircraft carriers, a tanker drone that can refuel fighter jets in mid-air.
Boeing has climbed 21percent this year to $356.16, more than twice the gains of the broader S&P 500, as President Trump and congressional Republicans ramped up investments in the U.S. military. A two-year agreement ratified by lawmakers in March raised the cap for defense spending to $700 billion for fiscal 2018, which ends Sept. 30, and to $716 billion for 2019.
[Also read: Landmark Navy drone deal offers Boeing potential for a new defense franchise]
