U.S. NAVY PHOTO
A US Navy P-8A submarine hunter.
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Navy's new anti-sub planes headed here
The Navy wants to station its newest twin-engine jet patrol and anti-submarine reconnaissance planes at Kaneohe Bay beginning in 2011.
They would replace the aging P-3 Orion subhunters pressed into service in 1969.
P-8A MULTIMISSION MARITIME AIRCRAFT
Function: Anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
Contractor: Boeing Co.
Propulsion: Two turbofan jet engines.
Length: 129.5 feet
Height: 42 feet
Wingspan: 117 feet
Airspeed: 564 mph
Range: 1,381 miles
Crew: 9
Source: U.S. Navy
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The public will be able to share any concerns that would be addressed in an environmental impact statement at a meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Pacific Beach Hotel. The deadline for receiving comments is March 2.
The Navy said the P-8A multimission maritime aircraft is a modified version of the commercial Boeing 737. The P-3 is the military's version of Lockheed's L-188 commercial jetliner.
Last month, a Boeing spokesman told the King County Journal that it added 400 workers in the Puget Sound area of Washington state because of the demand for the 737 and 787 commercial jets. Boeing also is adding workers for the military version of the 737, the P-8A.
The Navy, in a notice filed in the Federal Register last week, said it plans to transition from P-3C Orions to P-8As at existing bases on the East and West Coasts and Hawaii using existing facilities. The proposed action would include 84 P-8A aircraft, allocated among bases in Jacksonville, Fla.; Whidbey Island in Washington; and North Island in California.
The Orion squadrons at Kaneohe Bay consist of 60 P-3Cs belonging to Patrol Squadrons 4, 9 and 47. The capabilities of the Orion squadrons include anti-submarine warfare, air reconnaissance, aerial mine warfare, air-to-surface missile attack and maritime shipping surveillance and patrols. Missions also include search and rescue and drug interdiction.
In 1999, the four Orion squadrons and nine SH-60 Seahawk helicopters were moved from the old Barbers Point Naval Air Station to Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.