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MAY, 2018 - SOURCE:
FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM - BY: STEPHEN TRIMBLE - SEATTLE
As Boeing
assembles the 100th P-8 Poseidon in Renton, Washington, the company is laying
the groundwork to secure dozens of new orders by revamping the design and
production process to reduce costs.
“We think we’ll build another
100 of them,” says Carl Lang, Boeing’s deputy programme manager for the
737-800A, which is modified to become the anti-submarine warfare as the P-8.
So far, Boeing has delivered
eight test aircraft and 84 operational P-8As to the US Navy, plus eight P-8Is
for the Indian navy and seven P-8As for the Royal Australian Air Force.
The governments of Norway and
the UK also have committed to buy the aircraft. The USN’s programme of record
includes funding to buy at least 111 P-8As, although the navy’s approved
requirement calls for a total of 117.
Boeing expects continued demand
from the international market. If Boeing delivers a total of 200 P-8s, at least
75 of the orders should come from customers outside the USA, Lang says.
The international market,
however, is getting crowded. Militaries around the world still operate scores
of anti-submarine warfare aircraft, including Lockheed P-3Cs, Breguet
Atlantiques and Ilyushin Il-38s.
Fourteen years after Boeing
started developing the P-8 Poseidon, a number of competitors have appeared on
the global market. Kawasaki has delivered the four-engined P-1, a clean-sheet
design loosely modeled on the airframe of the P-3C. Saab, meanwhile, is
developing the Bombardier Global 6000-based Swordfish for the UAE. Airbus has
previously indicated that it is considering the development of an anti-submarine
warfare version of the A320neo family, as part of a broader military initiative
on the narrowbody.
In Renton, Boeing’s challenge to
keep the P-8 competitive is only getting harder. Boeing expects to deliver the
last member of the 737NG family to an airline customer by the end of 2019,
leaving the USN as the type’s only remaining customer as the Renton factory
transitions to the re-engined and heavily updated 737 Max. Although the 737NG
line is phasing out, Boeing has committed to supporting the P-8 programme.
The cost efficiencies gained by
leveraging a production system scaled up to once deliver more than 40 737s per
month will be lost, as output dwindles to only 1.5 P-8s per month.
To keep the P-8A competitive,
Boeing has launched a push to improve the aircraft’s affordability. Inside the
hangar in Renton where Boeing assembles P-8s, a sign reveals the existence of a
staff working on creating a “future production system” for the type.
That staff is working on design
and production system improvements to lower the cost of producing the P-8 in
absolute terms as well as prevent potential cost growth as 737NG production is
phased out, Lang says.
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