What Anti-Submarine Technologies Are Used By The US Navy's P-8 Poseidon?
Replacing a military aviation icon is never easy, but the Boeing P-8 Poseidon is in the process of doing just that, supplanting the venerable Lockheed P-3 Orion (which has served faithfully since 1959) as the US Navy's premier antisubmarine warfare (ASW) warbird.
Granted, this isn't the first Simple Flying article I've penned regarding the P-8, but those previous pieces covered the Poseidons in the service of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). This time I shall cover the plane's service to the US Navy, and what sort of technologies it uses to fulfill the USN's ASW mission.
The key attributes of enemy submarines that make them such a threat to one's own surface fleet are stealth and silence (the USN affectionately dubbed its own submarine fleet during WWII "the Silent Service"), so it goes without saying that the most important attribute of the Poseidon is the ability to detect the subs. The P-8 has seven operator consoles in the cabin for monitoring these detection devices.