Pentagon clears Boeing for 17 P-8A Poseidons to U.S., FMS customers

Boeing was awarded a $2.2 billion contract modification this week to manufacture and deliver 17 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to the Navy, foreign military sales and cooperative agreement partners.

Eleven P-8s will go to the Navy, two fall under FMS and four are for cooperative agreement partners, according to the March 30 contract announcement.

The contract modification includes long-lead parts associated with a separate buy of 10 P-8As. Seven aircraft will go to the U.S. and three will go to FMS, the announcement reads.

Inside Defense reported in February that the Navy identified buying additional P-8s as a "critical" unfunded requirement in fiscal year 2017.

In FY-15, Australia decided to buy the first of 12 P-8A aircraft, and in FY-16, the United Kingdom decided to buy the first of nine of the Boeing-built maritime patrol planes. These additional customers allowed the Navy "to maintain a cost-effective production rate and share/offset associated non-recurring engineering costs with our allies," according to Navy spokeswoman Denver Beaulieu-Hains.