The German parliament’s budget committee on Wednesday approved the 1.4 billion euro purchase of five Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, reports Reuters quoting parliamentary source.
According to official documents, Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Silberhorn, the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) would have selected the Boeing P-8A Poseidon as an interim solution to the replacement of the soon to be retired P-3C Maritime Patrol Aircraft of the German Navy.
Silberhorn (who represents the Federal Minister of Defence in the corresponding committees of the German Bundestag), in response to a question from Member of the Bundestag Christian Sauter (FDP), made the following comments regarding the French offer consisting in modernized ATL2 maritime patrol aircraft:
“The number and the expected readiness of the aircraft on offer will foreseeably not be able to cover the requirements of potential future operational commitments as well as the needs for crew regeneration and for conducting training and reconnaissance flights.”
The above statement makes the U.S. proposal the winner by default. Answering another question from the FDP parliamentary group, the German Government stated:
“The required capabilities of Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon weapon system basically correspond to those of the P-3C Orion. Only the P-8A Poseidon weapon system could ensure a seamless and timely capability transition if a Foreign Military Sales contract were concluded before the summer break in 2021.”
For the record, the United States’ State Department in March 2021 approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Germany of Boeing P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) and associated support, and related equipment, for an estimated cost of $1.77 billion.
© 2021, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.