This is important. A single Navy aircraft (of commercial airliner size) found a small fishing boat that was missing for several days after an unsuccessful search by Micronesian navy and coast guard assets and civilian searchers could not.
The SAR Capabilities of the P-8 Poseidon Shine Through
Here is where the SAR capabilities of the Poseidon took center stage.
First, it has a Synthetic Aperture Radar which creates a high-resolution image of the search area that looks like a highly detailed black and white photograph. It can also distinguish between a white cap and a small boat. The world’s oceans are unspeakably vast and from 5,000 feet in the air, a small boat looks like a speck on the water. The higher you fly the less likely you are to see it at all. This is why helicopters have been so useful as SAR assets, as they fly low and slow. With this radar, the Poseidon can fly above 20,000 feet and sweep enormous swaths of the ocean all at once.
The Poseidon is not limited to searching only in daylight hours but can also see through the gloom of night and bad weather. That is why a days-old trail did not prevent it from finding the survivors.
Finding a missing boat in the middle of the ocean is not enough; you also need to be able to sustain the survivors and establish communications so a rescue ship can find and recover them. The Poseidon dropped a UNIPAC II Search and Rescue (SAR) kit to the survivors. The kit is comprised of an 18-man liferaft that inflates when it contacts seawater. The liferaft contains, food, water, medical supplies, and a radio.
Since 2001, the P-8 Poseidon has been used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF). Orders have also been placed by the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF), the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), and the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). Japan also has plans to integrate it into its maritime fleet. It is set to purchase four of the aircraft in 2020, with an option for another four in the future.
A Revolution in Search and Rescue
The P-8 Poseidon is changing the way the U.S. Navy conducts SAR operations. It is capable of operating in low-altitude environments for extended periods of time. This ability is vital in doing search and rescue work which often combines sensor data to locate a lost vessel but requires eyeballs out windows to locate survivors in the water.
The aircraft can take high-resolution pictures and videos, and then encrypt and transmit those images back to base or to other naval vessels. This is a huge advantage to a battle force commander because it gives him a data stream of intelligence from hundreds of miles away in near real-time.
During WWII, there were several incidents where survivors of naval battles waited as much as a week for rescue while suffering the effects of exposure, cold water temperatures, dehydration, starvation, and their own battle injuries. One of the most well-known incidents involved the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis which lost more than 600 men in the water. They were waiting six days to be rescued.
In WWII, the Navy strung out destroyers and submarines as dedicated SAR platforms. It had whole squadrons of PBY Catalina search aircraft to look for survivors after naval battles or to recover downed pilots after airstrikes. Now we nearly have all that search capability in a single aircraft.
In a modern naval battle, the P-8 Poseidon would be able to detect the location of a sunk U.S. Navy ship; traverse 1,000 miles of ocean in just two hours; locate the survivors and drop enough rafts, food, and water assuring the survival of hundreds of sailors at once.
The Future of the P-8 Poseidon
The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an aircraft that is designed to search, locate, and rescue both people and ships. This new design will be used for military operations, overseas disaster relief, and SAR missions.
The aircraft features an open architecture platform for system integration. This means that the aircraft will be able to keep up with technological advances in the future. For example, this aircraft is capable of using internet-based data services to obtain information needed to complete or expand its mission. An open architecture platform can be used to obtain information reliably because it has the ability to access the internet and then update itself while airborne.
It will also serve as a deadly sub-hunter. Armed with long-range anti-ship missiles it will also be an effective maritime strike aircraft.
The P-8 Poseidon is poised to become a game-changer.
(This article has been updated to correct an error about China operating the P-8)
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