US Navy prepares for west coast transition of Poseidon
 

US Navy prepares for west coast transition of Poseidon

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The US Navy (USN) is to shortly begin transitioning its west coast maritime patrol squadrons over to the Boeing P-8A Poseidon as it looks to phase out of service the lion's-share of its Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion fleet before the end of the decade, a service official told reporters on 9 June.

Speaking at the home of the USN's P-8A training force at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville in Florida, instructor pilot with Patrol Squadron (VP) 30, Lieutenant Nikee Giampietro, said that with all of the east coast fleet having recently completed the move at the base from the P-3C over to the P-8A, work to do the same for the west coast fleet at NAS Whidbey Island in Washington state will begin in the coming weeks.

"[The USN] completed the stand up of its six east coast squadrons in April, and the west coast transition will start in the [beginning of the third quarter] of this year," Lt Giampietro said, adding that it will take approximately seven to eight months for each of the remaining six operational units to go through the transition process.

Those squadrons now stood up at NAS Jacksonville comprise VP-30 responsible for P-8A, P-3C, and Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle training, with P-8A operational units made up of VP-16, VP-5, VP-45, VP-8, VP-10, and VP-26. VP-30 will also undertake training for NAS Whidbey Island, with that station's operational P-8A units set to comprise VP-4, VP-47, VP-9, VP-1, VP-40, and VP-46. The first operational unit to be located at NAS Whidbey Island will be VP-4, which is currently deployed to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. The second unit will be VP-47, with the remaining order to be announced.

The USN plans to transition over to the P-8A for all its Patrol Squadrons by 2019, although a number of P-3Cs may remain in service after this date with the Special Projects Patrol Squadron.

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