I think he is basing his "
In service, yes with limitations and falls short, in significant areas, of satisying UK requirements.
proven - yes but did not get a glowing report during OT&E." and the "
P8 satisfies less than 70% of requirement.
To get it to 80% will be a massive extras cost that will require further testing etc making an expensive platform even more expensive. " from the fact that the P-8s currently in-service are the Increment 1 aircraft.
This is basically (if incompletely) correct.
He then assumes (very incorrectly) that this is the planned final version, and to get anything better the UK would have to pay for all of it yourselves.
There are several planned and in-process capability Increment phases scheduled - all of which are funded exclusively by the US.
http://http://www.seapowermagazine.o...40408-p-8.html
P-8A Increment 2 Upgrades to Begin Phase-In in 2015 By RICHARD BURGESS, Managing Editor
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The first increment of upgrades to the Boeing P-8A Poseidon, called Increment 2, will begin is fiscal 2015. The upgrades will be phased in as a series of Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs) and will be retrofitted on aircraft already delivered.
Martin Ahmad, the Navy’s deputy program manager for maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, said the first part of Increment 2, a multi-static active coherent (MAC) acoustic capability, is a significant upgrade to the aircraft’s acoustic antisubmarine warfare (ASW) detection and tracking capability. The MAC will comprise ECP-1 for the program.
ECP-2, scheduled for fiscal 2016, will include the Automatic Information System (AIS) and the first segment of the High-Altitude Antisubmarine Weapon Capability (HAAWC), a sonobuoy equipped with the Global Positioning System transmitter and the ability to be deployed from high altitudes. The AIS is a system that receives identity, course, speed and other information from commercial ships in which it is installed.
ECP-3 will integrate the full HAAWC, a Mk54 lightweight torpedo fitted with a wing kit for gliding to the water entry point. The weapon also will have mid-course guidance capability to alter the water entry point as needed.
Ahmad said the Navy is just starting its pre-Milestone B activity for Increment 3. Increment 3 includes ASW upgrades, sensor upgrades, a net-enabled weapon and software architecture improvements. The net-enabled ASW weapon will allow for third-party control of the weapon. The software architecture improvements will include hosting of generic applications and will enable third-party competition for prototyping of the applications, which Ahmad said will reduce the cost of future integration.
More at link.