A military aircraft whose cost goes down? Boeing
churns out P-8 sub hunters based on 737
Originally published September 27, 2016 at 6:09 pm Updated September 27, 2016 at 8:06 pm
Checking out the first Boeing
P-8 Poseidon which will be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
are Boeing employees and members of the U. S. Navy and the RAFF on the tarmac
at Boeing Field Tuesday morning. (Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times)
Boeing rolled out the
Royal Australian Air Force’s first P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft
Tuesday. The plane — a rare military-procurement program delivering on time and
under budget — is already in service with both the U.S. Navy and the Indian
Navy.
Boeing on Tuesday rolled out the first P-8 Poseidon
anti-submarine aircraft — based on its 737 commercial jet — destined for the
Royal Australian Air Force.
On a tour of the plant at Boeing Field where mechanics install
the plane’s military systems, Steve Tripp, who heads P-8 sales to foreign
militaries, touted the efficiency of Boeing’s P-8 manufacturing operation.
The program is going so smoothly that Boeing has been able to
drop the base price of the aircraft by about 30 percent from about $170 million
to $115 million.
“It’s good to be a major defense acquisition program that
delivers on time and under budget,” Tripp said.
The Australian jet, the first of 12 for that nation, is the 60th
flying P-8 built.
The U.S. Navy has already taken six flight-test P-8s and 45
production aircraft, and has deployed those on intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance missions in the western Pacific, the Mediterranean and North
Atlantic.
The Indian Navy took eight P-8s. Boeing also built two
ground-test planes at the program’s outset.
At the rollout ceremony, Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker, commander
of U.S. Naval Forces, said Boeing has been delivering a “tremendous quality”
aircraft.
Air Marshal Leo Davies, head of Australia’s Air Force, said the
220 Australians currently training on the P-8 in the U.S. are excited to
finally get their hands on the P-8’s advanced technology.
The P-8 bristles with antennae and fins used to detect radio or
acoustic signals.
Sonobuoys are deployed from tubular holes in the jet’s
underbelly to listen for submarines.
The wings are fitted with pylons to carry Harpoon missiles for
striking surface ships. A bomb bay carries Mark 54 torpedoes.
Inside the plane, operators sit at five computer work stations
with touch screens, monitoring the data from sensors and weapons systems and
networking with other aircraft and military assets.
An unusual blister on the casing of the standard 737 CFM engine
covers a powerful generator that runs all the mission systems on board.
Built differently
The jets are assembled and painted in Renton, then flown to
Boeing Field and moved at night across East Marginal Way South to the old
Thompson building — where in the 1960s the first few 737 airliners were built.
Because the old building isn’t quite wide enough, the P-8’s
raked wingtips are removed before it enters, then put back on when it emerges.
A tour of the Thompson site Tuesday — no photos allowed due to
military restrictions — indicated how Boeing has been able to achieve the cost
efficiency that’s impressed the U.S. Navy.
The old way Boeing manufactured a military derivative aircraft —
say a 707-based KC-135 tanker — was to build a basic commercial airframe, then
deliver it to a special completion center where holes would be cut out of it
for weapons and structural parts beefed up as needed for the mission load.
For the P-8, Boeing introduced “in-line production,” meaning
that all those structural changes to the airframe are incorporated as it is
built, not afterward.
So for example, the aluminum skin of a P-8 is almost twice as
thick as a regular 737 because the airframe has to withstand much more
stressful maneuvers.
So from the beginning of production, a different gauge of metal
is used.
“From the day this was a roll of aluminum, it was always going
to be a P-8, not a 737,” Tripp said.
Likewise the fuselage and wings have many more stiffening
stringers and frames, meaning many more rivets.
The holes in the fuselage for regular passenger windows are
absent.
But one big picture window on each side of the fuselage
accommodates a spotter looking for surface vessels. The large bomb bay is cut
out of the belly.
That’s the way the fuselage is built by Spirit AeroSystems in
Wichita, Kan.
“We don’t build it, unbuild it and rebuild it,” said Tripp. “We
build it from day one with this end state in mind.”
As a result, the Thompson building is very quiet. Instead of
riveting or metal work, the mechanics are installing, plugging in and testing
the systems.
Between 1,000 and 1,300 defense-side employees work on the P-8
program in Seattle, with hundreds more staffing the P-8 assembly line in
Renton.
They are producing 12 of the jets per year now, and moving to 18
per year.
The U.K. ordered nine P-8s at the Farnborough Air Show near
London in July. Boeing expects more foreign sales.
Original post: seattletimes
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