Boeing To Showcase P-8 Poseidon, Maritime Surveillance Aircraft At Dubai Airshow

Boeing will be displaying two newest military surveillance aircraft at the Dubai Airshow held in November for pushing up international sales.

Boeing is bringing P-8 Poseidon, a military version of 737 airliner and the still-in-development Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) is a military modified Bombardier Challenger. 

Boeing has sold 62 P-8s till now but mostly to the US Navy with eight orders booked each from India and Australia.

Further, the company sees the P-8 as a replacement aircraft for the Lockheed P-3 Orion that was first introduced in the 1960s. The company believes there is potential for at least 75 international sales, the Gulf News Aviation reported today.

Boeing will be flying a P-8 that is used by the US Navy and its prototype of the MSA, the company executives said. Boeing believes there is appetite in the Middle East for both aircraft. Moreover, some regional governments are also interested. The company is also in talks to test the MSA with regional militaries while the aircraft is in the region, Bob Schoeffling, a senior manager from the MSA programme said.

Boeing is looking to the Middle East to drive up defence revenues as the US government has cuts back its military budget and have kept other international defence spending static.

Further,the company is still in talks with at least two Middle East customers for “more than 20” Ch-47 Chinook helicopters, Chadwick confirmed.

But the booking of any military orders in the Middle East is likely to be followed up with more regional joint ventures and partnerships.