SEATTLE -- Boeing has delivered the first of nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to the United Kingdom Royal Air Force (RAF).

The United Kingdom is acquiring the multi-mission aircraft through the Foreign Military Sales process with the U.S. Navy. The P-8A Poseidon replaces the U.K.’s retired Nimrod aircraft.

Boeing formally delivered the aircraft on Oct. 29 to the U.S. Navy during a ceremony at the Boeing Military Delivery Center in Tukwila, Wash. From Tukwila, the aircraft flew to the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, where U.S. Navy leaders officially turn the aircraft over to the United Kingdom.

At JAX, Royal Air Force crew will work with the aircraft before flying it to the United Kingdom in January 2020. All nine P-8A aircraft will be based at Lossiemouth, Scotland.

As part of a collaborative program with the U.S. Navy, pilots and maintainers from the United Kingdom's RAF have been stationed at Naval Air Station JAX since 2012. Called "Project Seedcorn," the arrangement has allowed RAF members to fly the P-8A with Patrol Squadron Thirty (VP-30), the Navy's Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Fleet Replacement Squadron, to maintain their maritime patrol skills in advance of receiving the P-8A.

The P-8 is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. In addition, the P-8 performs humanitarian and search and rescue missions around the globe.

Source: Boeing