On October 1, 2025, an official ceremony was held at Boeing's Seattle facility in the United States to hand over to the German Ministry of Defense the first of eight Boeing P-8A Poseidon base patrol aircraft ordered for the German Navy. The aircraft with tail number "63+01" (serial number 170528) made its maiden flight on February 27, 2025 and is scheduled to be commissioned by the 3rd Naval Aviation Squadron (Marinefliegergeschwader 3 Graf Zeppelin - MFG 3) of the German Navy at Nordholz Air Base in November.
The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon basic patrol aircraft transferred to Germany (tail number "63+01", serial number 170528). Seattle, 01.10.2025 (c) Boeing
Eight Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft were ordered by Germany to replace the Lockheed P-3C CUP+ Orion base patrol aircraft operated by the same MFG 3 squadron, which were withdrawn from the German naval aviation after the expiration of their service life. In 2018, a Franco-German agreement was signed on the joint development of a promising MAWS (Maritime Airborne Warfare System) basic patrol aircraft based on the Airbus A320neo platform (A320M3A project) to replace Dassault Atlantique 2 aircraft in the French Navy and P-3C Orion aircraft in the German Navy. However, the entry into service of the MAWS aircraft is considered possible no earlier than 2035, which creates a problem for the German side in connection with its plans to decommission the P-3C aircraft earlier. In this regard, the Germans decided to take a more conservative and cheaper path and purchase new P-8A aircraft from the United States to replace the P-3C aircraft. The P-8A itself is now practically an uncontested aircraft for this purpose for most of the US allies. At the same time, Germany nominally does not refuse to participate in the MAWS program, officially declaring the purchase of the P-8A as a "transitional solution", which, of course, looks unlikely.
In March 2021, the US Department of Defense's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned sale of five P-8A Poseidon aircraft to Germany through the US Intergovernmental Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS). The total cost of the proposed delivery was estimated at $1.77 billion, including a full set of equipment and training and technical support packages, but without weapons. The corresponding FMS agreement was signed by Germany in June 2021 with a value of 1.1 billion euros ($1.31 billion). In total, the Bundestag approved the allocation of 1.43 billion euros for the purchase program of these five aircraft, the remaining funds will be used, apparently, for the purchase of weapons and the preparation of ground infrastructure in Nordholz.
In November 2023, Germany signed an agreement with the United States to purchase three more P-8A aircraft through FMS, as well as one ground simulator for a total of 1.1 billion euros, funded from the notorious Bundeswehr special fund of 100 billion euros. Delivery of all eight German aircraft is planned by the end of 2026.
The German Navy plans to purchase four more P-8A aircraft in order to bring their total fleet to 12 units, but it is unclear whether this will be implemented. Germany has become the eighth recipient of the R-8 family of aircraft. The aircraft delivered to Germany on October 1 became the 186th manufactured aircraft of this type.
The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon base patrol aircraft transferred to Germany (tail number "63+01", serial number 170528). Seattle, 01.10.2025 (c) Bundeswehr and Boeing
