Boeing handed over the seventh production P-8A Poseidon to the U.S. Navy on schedule March 29, marking the first delivery from the second low-rate initial production contract awarded in November 2011.

The maritime patrol aircraft departed Boeing Field in Seattle for Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, where it joined six P-8As currently being used to train Navy crews.

“This is our second P-8A delivery of 2013, and we'll continue to provide the Navy with new Poseidon aircraft at a rate of nearly one a month,” said Rick Heerdt, Boeing Vice President and P-8 Program Manager.

“We've got a full factory of P-8As for the U.S. Navy and P-8I aircraft for India, and we're working side-by-side with both customers to introduce the aircraft's advanced capabilities into their fleets,” he added.

Boeing also announced that it will showcase an array of proven maritime capabilities and innovative technologies, including advances in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance that help U.S. maritime services accomplish their missions at this year’s Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exhibition (8-10 April 2013,  Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland).

Boeing's exhibit will feature an F/A-18F Super Hornet flight simulator and models of aircraft, unmanned systems, and precision weapon and missile defense solutions. The company will demonstrate how combining integrated networks and tactical systems with C4ISR capabilities allow for delivering critical, time-sensitive information to warfighters. A mockup of a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor fuselage will be displayed by partners Bell Boeing.

During the exposition, Boeing and U.S. Navy officials will together brief the media about the Super Hornet, Growler, and P-8A Poseidon programs, while the U.S. Marine Corps will conduct a briefing about the V-22. Boeing subsidiary Insitu will discuss its unmanned Integrator program.