Boeing has completed the painting process for the Royal Norwegian Air Force's (RNoAF) first P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet. The aircraft left the painting hangar on Friday night (09), at the company's headquarters in Renton.
Named the Vingtor, the aircraft is the first of five units acquired by the RNoAF to replace its Lockheed P-3C Orion. The others will be called Viking, Ulabrand, Hugin e munin, names inspired by Norse mythology and which continue an almost 80-year-old tradition that began when the names Vingtor, Viking and Ulabrand were used on Norway's PBY-5 Catalina maritime patrol aircraft in 1942. Since then, other maritime patrol aircraft operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force has carried these names, including its current P-3 fleet, which will be replaced by the P-8.
Norway's first P-8A aircraft will now return to the factory floor to be prepared for test flights The first flight is scheduled for later this month, and mission systems will be installed on the aircraft after that, Boeing says.
In March 2017, Norway signed a contract valued at US$1,2 billion for the purchase of five P-8s, which will replace three Dassault Falcons and six P-3Cs. The new patrol aircraft are due to be delivered to the RNoAF between 2022 and 2023. More recently, the also acquired five P-8 Poseidon.
