MPA - P-8 er som poteten - Testes nå som Airborne Support to Nuclear Command and Control - Defence Daily

DoD IG To Audit Navy P-8s And Airborne Support to Nuclear Command and Control

A P-8A Poseidon assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 20 flies over USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) in Chesapeake Bay in 2016. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

   

By Rich Abott |
6 days ago |
04/14/2020

Also In This Issue:

The Defense Department’s Inspector General (DoD IG) on Monday said it will start evaluating the Navy’s P-8 Poseidon aircraft fleet and its airborne support to the “survivable nuclear command and control system.”

Each evaluation was announced in separate memos to the relevant agencies and organizations.

The P-8 review aims to determine whether the P-8 fleet readiness “meets the anti-submarine warfare requirements of the U.S. European Command.”

The Poseidon replaces the Navy’s legacy P-3 Orion as a multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. It conducts anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. It is armed with torpedoes and cruise missiles.

The IG intends to start the evaluation this month and said it will perform it at Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.; Commander Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, Norfolk, Va.; Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.; Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla.; U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany; and U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Naval Forces Africa, Naples, Italy.

The other evaluation aims to determine “the extent that the Navy’s airborne support to the survivable nuclear command and control system is meeting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Operation Order 2-18 and U.S. Strategic Command Operational Plan 801X requirements.”

The IG will perform the survivable nuclear command and control system evaluation this month as well at the U.S. Strategic Command, Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Defense Information Systems Agency, and Strategic Communications Wing One.

Both letters noted the DoD IG may identify more locations to review during the evaluation, will revise its objectives as the evaluation proceeds, and will consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.