Aged Orions May Fly Even Longer

The US Navy's effort to replace aging P-3C Orion reconnaissance aircraft may suffer due to the service's quest for new battleships. Bloomberg reports four early-build Boeing 737-based P-8A Poseidon aircraft may be scrapped to free up funds for a new destroyer.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England approved shifting approximately $940 million from the Poseidon program in late October, to pay for the last of three DDG-1000 destroyers from Northrop Grumman.

Navy officials originally planned to purchase six P-8As in the initial tranche, out of a planned production run of 108 planes... but have since "identified four P-8s and operating and maintenance" funds that could be shifted to build the battleship.

The funding shift is part of the Navy's overall desire to have 313 deployable warships in service by 2020, up from the current fleet of 283. That plan includes a number of retirements, with new ships filling those voids.

To that end, the Navy is looking for money wherever it can find it... even if that means cannibalizing the Poseidon program, apparently. As ANN has reported, the P-8A will replace the nearly 50-year-old P-3C Orion. The Navy grounded 1/3 of the Orion fleet last December, over concerns about structural fatigue in the planes' wings.

The first P-8A is slated to fly early in 2009, with entry into service with the Navy in 2013.

FMI: www.navy.mil