Royal New Zealand Air Force received its first P-8A Poseidon aircraft at RNZAF Base Ohakea , New Zealand early today , and they are expecting three more within next year to complete the fleet of maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.
Meanwhile , the manufacturer of the aircraft — Boeing has awarded Lufthansa Technik a contract for sustainment services within its support of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's (RNZAF) future fleet of four P-8A aircraft that will leverage commercial capabilities to improve readiness rates.
The contract is for provision of Lufthansa Technik's Total Component Support (TCS), a comprehensive component services program for the 737 covering more than 400 commercial common parts included in the configuration of the P-8A, a military derivative of the popular airliner.
Royal NZ Air Force confirmed the arrival of P-8A Poseidon aircraft.
Leveraging the 737 commercial market in support of P-8A international customers will allow smaller fleets easier access to necessary global supply chain inventory from the more than 4,000 737 aircraft operating today.
"Our collaboration with Lufthansa Technik is a strong example of how industry can work together to solve customer challenges and maintain high readiness rates," said Torbjorn (Turbo) Sjogren, Boeing Vice President and General Manager, Government Services. "Our goal is to expand service offerings from a strategic German industry partner for additional P-8A customers to benefit."
The TCS program provided by Lufthansa Technik allows the RNZAF to reduce investment in commercial common parts and improve aircraft readiness through access to the German company's maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) global supply chain.
Boeing and Lufthansa Technik signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2021 to support Germany's P-8A Poseidon fleet. The MOU expanded to a three-party agreement with ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH in 2022.
"Lufthansa Technik is a longstanding partner with a long history of supporting Boeing aircraft around the world," said Michael Haidinger, President of Boeing in Germany. "This new contract is a clear demonstration of our commitment to German industry and how we partner across the Atlantic and globally, shaping meaningful partnerships that ensure continued economic and industrial growth in Germany."
Under Boeing's Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) program, Lufthansa Technik also provides hardware support to the Italian fleet of Boeing KC-767A tankers and has facilitated outstanding aircraft availability for the Italian Air Force.
"As a renowned expert for Special Mission aircraft and a leading maintenance, repair and overhaul provider with decades of experience in servicing commercial Boeing 737s, we are delighted to soon start servicing New Zealand's Poseidon fleet."
"The strong partnership with Boeing enables us to offer the best possible service level over the entire life cycle of the aircraft," said Michael von Puttkamer, Vice President Special Aircraft Services at Lufthansa Technik. "We are very much looking forward to further cooperation with our partners, in Germany and beyond."
In July 2018, the government of New Zealand had announced the purchase of four P-8A Poseidon aircraft to replace their aging fleet of P-3K2 maritime patrol aircraft.
Deployed around the world with 155 aircraft delivered or in service, and more than 450,000 collective, mishap free flight hours, the P-8A is vital for global anti-submarine warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and search-and-rescue operations.
