US Navy Issues $2.4 Billion Contract for P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The P-8 is a long-range multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. It includes a bomb bay and pylons for weapons and performs anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The US Navy has issued a $2.4 billion contract for 19 additional long-range Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, Boeing announced in a news release on Monday.

"The US Navy has awarded Boeing a $2.4 billion production contract for the next 19 P-8A Poseidon aircraft," the release stated. "The contract includes ten aircraft to add to the current inventory of P-8As in the US Navy fleet, all five jets… for Norway and the four aircraft remaining for the United Kingdom", the release said.

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Boeing explained that the United Kingdom will receive their first aircraft in 2019 and Norway will begin receiving teh aircraft in 2021.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it scrambled a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet to intercept a US P-8A over the Baltic Sea.

The ministry said Russian airspace control systems discovered an air target approaching Russia's state border over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.

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