The inaugural deployment of the P-8A Poseidon will begin Friday when the War Eagles of Patrol Squadron 16 depart Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., for Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.
VP-16 returned to Jacksonville from its last P-3C Orion deployment in June 2012 and began the transition into the new airframe the next month. The squadron completed the transition in January and has been preparing for the deployment ever since.
The squadron will deploy with six aircraft and 12 aircrews. However, the crews will be smaller than those flying P-3s, as each only has nine people instead of 11.
The P-8 is the first new maritime patrol aircraft to enter Navy service in over 50 years.
militarytimes
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