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A newly published U.S. government document confirms that the Boeing P-8A Poseidon will be upgraded to perform signals intelligence (SIGINT) missions.
The document also shows the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft will receive the same payloads that are being deployed on the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton Integrated Functional Capability-4.
Only Sierra Nevada and Argon ST will be allowed to submit bids for the P-8A ASW SIGINT payload, with a newly revealed ALQ-263 designation, according to a Navy special notice published via the U.S. General Services Administration on a government acquisition portal.
Sierra Nevada and Argon ST produce the high- and low-bandwidth payloads of the Multi-Intelligence Sensor Development (MISD) system.
The Navy developed the MISD payloads to equip the family of aircraft selected to replace the Lockheed EP-3E ARIES II maritime SIGINT fleet.
VQ-1, the last operational EP-3E squadron, will be retired by the end of 2025.
The Navy, meanwhile, quietly prepared the P-8A fleet to form part of the EP-3E’s successor. The 2016 Naval Aviation Vision outlined plans to replace the ARIES II with a mix of MQ-4Cs, P-8As and Northrop MQ-8C Fire Scouts. The latter will be retired by the end of this year, leaving only the MQ-4Cs and P-8As in service.
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