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By Eddy Metcalf |
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December 8, 2010 - The Boeing P-8I team began
fabricating the first part for the Indian navy's first
long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine
warfare aircraft on Monday 6 in
The Boeing P-8 Poseidon (formerly the Multimission
Maritime Aircraft or MMA) It is intended to conduct
anti-submarine warfare and shipping interdiction and to
engage in an electronic intelligence (ELINT) role. This
will involve carrying torpedoes, depth charges, AGM-84
Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and other weapons.
It will also be able to drop and monitor sonobuoys. It is designed to operate in conjunction with the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle. The P-8 is being developed by Boeing's Defense, Space, & Security division from the 737-800. |
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Employees
at Spirit AeroSystems where all Boeing Next-Generation 737
fuselages, nacelles and pylons are designed and built cut the
P-8I's first part, a bonded aluminum panel that later will be
installed on the fuselage's upper lobe to support an antenna.
The panel and other fuselage components will come together on
Spirit's existing Next-Generation 737 production line.
"Today
marks the P-8I program's move from the design phase to the build
phase," said Leland Wight, Boeing P-8I program manager. "We're
on schedule and the Indian navy is looking forward to receiving
its first plane."
Spirit
will ship the P-8I fuselage to a Boeing Commercial Airplanes
facility in "P-8I fuselage sections are designed and built using the same processes we use on the commercial 737," said Mike King, Spirit AeroSystems Fuselage Segment senior vice president/general manager. "We've built seven P-8A fuselages to date and continue to increase efficiency as we move forward." |
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