US Navy to receive first deployable P-8A Poseidon trainers

The U.S. Navy will receive its first deployable P-8A Poseidon trainers, allowing aircrew and operators to improve their mission readiness even while serving away from home.

Under a recently signed contract, Boeing will provide seven Deployable Mission Readiness Trainers (DMRTs) to the Navy, starting in 2019.

“Training ensures the Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance community is proficient in anti-submarine warfare. By using these trainers, crews are trained without adding flight hours to the aircraft,” said CDR. John Thoe, P-8A training systems integrated product team lead. “DMRTs will fulfill these important requirements by providing high-fidelity, crew-based training to deployed squadrons.”

The proposed DMRT design is portable with low-power requirements and includes Boeing’s Weapons Tactics Trainer system, which incorporates sonobuoy and ocean acoustics modeling.

The U.S. Navy trains P-8A Poseidon aircrews at naval air stations in Jacksonville, Fla., and Whidbey Island, Wash. Seventy percent of the training for P-8A aircrews takes place in simulators and other trainers; the remaining 30 percent uses the actual aircraft.

Boeing is also under contract to deliver a complete P-8A training system to the Royal Australian Air Force, beginning in 2018.