Boeing Wins $213 Million Navy Deal to Reconfigure Four P-8A Jets for Foreign Buyer
The Navy awarded Boeing a not-to-exceed $213 million modification to redesign four P-8A Poseidon aircraft for a Foreign Military Sales customer, with work running through December 2031.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Boeing won a Navy contract modification worth up to $213 million to reengineer four maritime patrol jets for a foreign buyer, the Defense Department said.
The not-to-exceed award adds scope for non-recurring engineering to reconfigure four P-8A Multi-mission Maritime aircraft previously bought by a Foreign Military Sales customer, according to war.gov. Foreign customer funds of $74.9 million will be obligated at the time of award, and the deal was not competed.
“This effort will modify the aircraft configuration to meet the customer’s specific operational requirements,” the contract notice said, describing the engineering work that anchors the award as announced on war.gov.
The Boeing Co., based in Seattle, Washington, is one of the largest U.S. defense contractors and the sole builder of the P-8A, a militarized derivative of the 737 airliner used for anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and search-and-rescue. Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland, serves as the contracting activity.
The award flows through the Foreign Military Sales program, in which the U.S. government buys or modifies equipment on behalf of allied nations and bills them directly. Because the customer bears the cost, U.S. taxpayers do not fund the modification, though the work sustains domestic engineering jobs. Boeing benefits from added backlog, while the unnamed foreign operator gains aircraft tailored to its mission needs.
Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, which accounts for 91% of the effort, and in Huntington Beach, California, which covers the remaining 9%, according to war.gov. Completion is expected by December 2031, giving the program more than five years to definitize the undefinitized contract and deliver the reconfigured jets.
For the average U.S. reader, the deal illustrates how arms exports underpin manufacturing employment on the West Coast while advancing allied defense ties without a direct call on the federal budget.
This has happened before. Boeing has delivered P-8 variants to several international operators, including Australia, the United Kingdom, India, Norway and New Zealand, each requiring configuration changes to match national requirements. Foreign Military Sales modifications of this kind recur across the P-8 program as buyers adapt the platform after initial procurement.
Naval Air Systems Command will oversee the next steps, including negotiating final terms of the undefinitized contract. A specific date for definitization has not been announced, though the work carries a completion target of December 2031.
Boeing’s maritime patrol lineage stretches back well before the P-8. The company’s P-8 succeeded the P-3 Orion, which Lockheed introduced in the early 1960s and which served the U.S. Navy for roughly half a century in the anti-submarine role. Boeing launched the P-8 program in 2004 and delivered the first operational aircraft to the Navy in 2013, going on to secure export orders across four continents. Each foreign sale has expanded the manufacturer’s reach, cementing the 737-based patrol jet as a durable pillar of Boeing’s defense franchise.
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