In July 2018 the Government announced the purchase of four Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to replace the ageing six P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft that have been operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) since the 1960s. This page provides information on the new aircraft and updates on the project.
Of the available options, the P-8A Poseidon was assessed to be the lowest cost and lowest risk option for New Zealand.
The P-8A Poseidon will be a key component of meeting obligations to our friends in the Pacific and our commitments to monitor and respond to events in the Southern Ocean. It will allow for:
- Participation in international task groups
- Environmental monitoring
- Search and rescue
- Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
- Protection of the Southern Ocean
The aircraft will provide service to other government departments including the Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand Customs Service, the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, The Rescue Coordination Centre and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Delivery
The first P-8A aircraft is due for delivery in December 2022, with the remaining three to be delivered during 2023.
By the numbers
P-8A Poseidon statistics
- Wingspan: 123.6 ft (37.64 m)
- Length: 129.5 ft (39.47 m)
- Height: 42.1 ft (12.83 m)
- Propulsion: Two CFM56-7B engines 27,300 lbs thrust
- Speed: 490 kts (902km/h)
- Range: 1,200 nm with 4 hours on station
- Ceiling: 41,000 ft (12,496 m)
- Crew: 9
Tail numbers for the new aircraft
All our aircraft have a unique serial number that follows New Zealand Defence Force convention. An important step in the construction of our new P-8A fleet is allocating the tail numbers, which will have the numbers NZ4801 – 04.
Broken down this means:
- NZ – the prefix for NZDF
- 4 – denotes the aircraft’s role of maritime, our current P-3K2 fleet uses a 4 in the same way
- 8 – this denotes the aircraft type in this case 8 was available and made sense to use it given it is a P-8A fleet
- 01-04 – these final two numbers are the sequential tail numbers.
Project updates
Paint job | 22 July 2022
Today marks another major milestone as Boeing debuted the first of our P-8A Poseidon aircraft, the new maritime patrol aircraft. The aircraft features our RNZAF Kiwi roundel and is painted military grey.
The aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to the New Zealand Ministry of Defence later this year.
