P-8A upgrade boosts undersea capability

Australia has 12 Boeing P-8A Poseidon manned maritime surveillance and response aircraft, and with a further two on order, has influenced the design of the upgrades.

An RAAF P-8A Poseidon. Picture: Nigel Pittaway

Perhaps overshadowed by excitement around Australia’s planned acquisition of a fourth unmanned Triton surveillance aircraft, the announcement by Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy on September 19 also provided details on an important upgrade for the RAAF’s P-8A Poseidon fleet.

Australia has 12 Boeing P-8A Poseidon manned maritime surveillance and response aircraft, with a further two on order and, as a security co-operation partner with the US since first selecting the Poseidon in February 2014, it has influenced the design of the upgrades.

Under Increment 3 of the P-8A development program, the upgrades will deliver enhanced anti-submarine warfare (ASW), maritime strike and intelligence gathering capabilities.

The first aircraft is expected to enter the upgrade program in 2026, with the final aircraft to be delivered back to the RAAF in 2030. Defence says it will work on options for domestic installation of the upgrades with Boeing Defence Australia.

“We know we’re in the biggest arms race since World War II in the region,” Conroy said in September.

“We know we’re seeing a record number of submarines being constructed and deployed in the Indo-Pacific. So, today I’m announcing a very significant boost to our maritime warfare capability.

“The upgrade to the P-8A gives it a greater undersea warfare capability, including the ability to detect and destroy submarines at a longer range and with a greater search radius.

“We’re also upgrading the combat system and today we’re also announcing that the P-8A will be equipped with the most advanced anti-ship missile in the world. We’ll be equipping them from 2025 onwards with the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).”

The Lockheed Martin AGM-158C LRASM has already been selected by the RAAF for its Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighters and in the future, it will also be added to its F-35A Lightning II fighters,

The sale of up to 200 LRASM weapons to Australia was approved by the US government in February 2020, under a $US990m procurement plan. LRASM is a stealthy weapon able to strike targets at ranges in excess of 370km.

“LRASM is the most advanced anti-ship missile in the world,” Conroy said.

“This will give us greater maritime strike capability, which is what the Defence Strategic Review also recommended. We need these platforms to be able to detect and destroy submarines at greater distances.

“We also need these aircraft to be able to fire missiles that potentially sink adversaries’ ships from greater distances. This announcement will result in us having missiles that have tripled the range­ ­of current missiles for that task.” The missile is a maritime strike-optimised derivative of Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158B Joint Air to Surface Strike Missile – Extended Range (JASSM-ER), which has also been selected by the RAAF.

The Increment 3 upgrade itself will deliver what the US Navy terms “warfighting critical” ASW Signals Intelligence (ASW SIGINT) capability, together with Higher Than Secret (HTS) processing, enhanced track management (Minotaur) and an Enhanced Multi-Static Active Coherent (MAC-E) ASW capability.

“So, there will be upgrades to the combat system, upgrades to the acoustic sensors and the ability to do above water surveillance and underwater sensing,” Air Commodore Wendy Blyth, Head Air Force Capability, explains.

“Australia and the US are partnered in the co-operative program (and) we work together to identify pathways for further capability upgrades and jointly work out what should be incorporated and when.”

A Boeing spokesperson says the company has worked in close co-operation with the commonwealth, the US Navy and its Australian industry partners since the first aircraft was delivered to the RAAF in 2016.

“We stand ready to support the commonwealth of Australia in delivery of the upgrade program through the P-8A Poseidon Through Life Support (TLS) program,” the spokesperson adds.