Tag Archives: P-8I

A Pair of P-8s Testing Together

P-8 production is really moving along at the moment.  Aside from the US Navy aircraft, there are planes destined for the Royal Air Force, the Indian Navy and the Royal Norwegian Air Force in production and on test.  One afternoon I got both an Indian and an RAF jet arriving in close succession.  The nice thing about arrivals from the south when they are military jets is that they then taxi back past you as they head to the military ramp.

What Will This Neptune Get Labeled With?

The Indian P-8I fleet is different from the P-8A Poseidons of the US Navy and that have a different name – Neptune.  The original batch had Ark on the fin.  The second batch had a different name but the current test aircraft I saw at Boeing Field both departing and arriving had a blank fin.  I am not sure whether this is because it won’t have a unit name, whether it hasn’t been decided yet or whether it hasn’t been disclosed and will be added at a later date.  It made for a slightly more boring look combined with the US registration taped over the paint scheme.  I got it departing and returning so experimented with some slower shutter speeds to make things more interesting.  The takeoff run was long so it must have been pretty heavy when it departed.

The Second Batch of Indian P-8s Commences

This P-8 is the first jet for a second batch ordered by the Indian government.  I have to admit that I didn’t know that they had ordered more jets.  I could tell it was different because the earlier jets had ARK written on the fin and this one has DAB.  Maybe that is a squadron thing?  The P-8I for the Indians has a number of changes from the USN standard of jet.  It has a different radar mounted on the fuselage and also includes a MAD which was not part of the USN spec.  Here are some shots of the two jets to show the differences between them.