Germany is set to initiate a foreign military sales process with the U.S. government to buy five Boeing-built (NYSE: BA) maritime surveillance planes for approximately $1.3 billion.
The German defense ministry said Thursday it chose the P-8A Poseidon aircraft platform to address a capability gap that arose following the completion of its P-3C Orion modernization project last year.
The ministry also intends to procure mission and communication systems, ground checkout equipment, special tools and logistics and technical support services through the U.S. FMS program.
In a separate announcement, Boeing said Germany will become the planemaker’s eighth customer of the Poseidon multimission aircraft platform designed for anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.
Boeing partnered with German companies Lufthansa Technik and ESG Elektroniksystem-und Logistik-GmbH to integrate and maintain P-8A systems and provide training support for the German navy.
