Boeing 
delivered the Navy’s first production P-8A Poseidon maritime warfare and patrol aircraft, announced the company. “The Navy fleet is more than ready to receive the P-8A, which will provide the users and operators a step increase in mission capabilities,” said Rear Adm. Paul Grosklags, program executive officer for air anti-submarine warfare. Delivery of this aircraft, the first of 13 low-rate initial production P-8s, took place on March 4 in Seattle. The Navy will use this airframe for aircrew training at NAS Jacksonville, Fla. Boeing has already supplied the Navy with eight pre-production P-8s for flight and ground tests at NAS Patuxent River, Md. Based on Boeing’s 737-800 airliner, Poseidon will serve in anti-ship and anti-submarine roles and will provide over-water intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance capability. The Navy intends to purchase a total 117 P-8As to replace its long-serving fleet of P-3 Orions.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.