German Navy commences Poseidon training

A model of the P-8A Poseidon in German markings displayed at ILA 2022 in Berlin. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

The German Navy has commenced training on the Boeing P-8A Poseidon, ahead of deliveries of five interim maritime multimission aircraft in 2024.

The chief of the German Navy's aviation component, Sea Captain Thorsten Bobzin, announced the milestone from his official Twitter account on 5 September.

“P-8A training starts!” he said. “At the end of August, the first technicians from [German Naval Aviation Wing 3] began their pre-training at the [Technische Ausbildungszentrum technical training centre of the] Luftwaffe. A personnel exchange with and flying training at the US Navy should follow quickly. The first aircraft will be here in 25 months!”

The disclosure of the commencement of training came weeks after Capt Bobzin told Janes and other defence media at the ILA Airshow in Berlin that the P-8A programme is within the timeframe first set out by Boeing, with deliveries to begin in October 2024 and run until mid-2025.

With five P-8As under contract, the German government earlier this year announced that further maritime patrol aircraft would be acquired under the EUR100 billion (USD99.47 billion) Söndervermögen (special fund) uplift in national defence spending that was introduced on the back of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. National media have reported that this will translate into seven additional aircraft for a final fleet of 12 P-8As.