New German sub-hunting plane to operate out of Norway, Iceland

BERLIN — The first of eight P-8A Poseidon submarine-hunting aircraft ordered for the German Navy arrived in Berlin last week. The aircraft will serve to ensure no Russian submarines are able to enter the open Atlantic undetected, German officials said.

Although based at the northern German air base Nordholz, the fleet of Poseidon aircraft that Germany ordered in 2021 will be spending a lot of its time based abroad and surveilling the North Atlantic, German officials said on the sidelines of welcoming the first aircraft to German soil at the Berlin airport.

The Poseidons will be flying out of air bases in the U.K., Norway and Iceland, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said Nov. 7, adding that this has been “firmly agreed” with host nations. There will be close cooperation with other NATO countries in the area, Pistorius said, specifically naming Canada.

“This allows us to increase our presence and range,” he said.

The P-8A Poseidon, a U.S.-made submarine hunter and marine surveillance plane, is designed to detect and, if needed, engage submarines and surface vessels. It has been dubbed Germany’s largest warplane in public information materials of the Bundeswehr.

Several other key NATO countries also operate the Poseidon, including the United Kingdom, the U.S., Norway, and Canada. Introducing the type into active service will further deepen the interoperability between these countries’ forces, Pistorius and Navy Deputy Chief of Staff Vice Adm. Axel Deertz told reporters.

“The German contribution to deterrence in the far north will be based largely on this aircraft,” said the defense minister.

Crews have already been training in the U.S. and aboard British planes for several months, Pistorius said.

The P-8A’s introduction marks a significant upgrade, replacing Berlin’s aging fleet of Lockheed P-3 Orions, a turboprop plane that currently serves as the German Navy’s submarine hunter. A key advantage is that the Poseidon, built by Boeing, is based on the same airframe as the civilian Boeing 737, one of the most widely used aircraft types. This means that civilian contractors can also do maintenance on the P-8A.

Furthermore, the sensor suite, consoles and software aboard the aircraft are state-of-the-art, Pistorius said.

The first P-8A Poseidon to touch German soil landed at the Berlin airport in the early afternoon on Friday, flying in from Keflavik airport in Iceland, where it had stopped over coming from the Boeing factory near Seattle .

“As I have just been told, of course, this wasn’t just a transfer flight. So all the consoles were on, of course, and they tested everything thoroughly,” said Deertz. His verdict was that the capabilities of the plane “are, in fact, immense.”

Germany will receive seven more P-8A Poseidon aircraft, with two more scheduled to arrive “in the near future,” Deertz said. The Bundeswehr is also maintaining an option for four additional machines, which would bring the total fleet up to 12.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——德国海军订购的八架P-8A“海神”反潜巡逻机中的第一架上周抵达柏林。德国官员表示，这些飞机将用于确保任何俄罗斯潜艇都无法在不被发现的情况下进入大西洋。

德国官员在柏林机场迎接首架“海神”无人机抵达德国时表示，尽管这支德国于 2021 年订购的“海神”无人机机队以德国北部诺德霍尔茨空军基地为基地，但它们的大部分时间将驻扎在国外，监视北大西洋。

德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托瑞斯11月7日表示，海神直升机将从英国、挪威和冰岛的空军基地起飞，并补充说，这一安排已与驻在国“达成一致”。皮斯托瑞斯还表示，将与该地区的其他北约国家密切合作，并特别提到了加拿大。

“这使我们能够扩大影响力和覆盖范围，”他说。

P-8A“海神”反潜巡逻机是美国制造的反潜巡逻机，其设计目的是探测并在必要时攻击潜艇和水面舰艇。德国联邦国防军的公开资料将其称为德国最大的战机。

其他几个北约主要国家也装备了“海神”无人机，包括英国、美国、挪威和加拿大。皮斯托里乌斯和海军副参谋长阿克塞尔·迪尔茨中将告诉记者，该机型投入现役将进一步深化这些国家军队之间的互操作性。

国防部长表示：“德国对远北地区的威慑作用将主要依赖于这种飞机。”

皮斯托瑞斯说，机组人员已经在美国和英国的飞机上进行了几个月的训练。

P-8A的服役标志着一次重大升级，它将取代柏林老旧的洛克希德P-3“猎户座”涡桨飞机。P-3“猎户座”目前是德国海军的反潜巡逻机。P-8A的一个关键优势在于，由波音公司制造的“海神”反潜巡逻机与民用波音737（全球最常用的机型之一）采用相同的机身结构。这意味着民用承包商也可以对P-8A进行维护。

皮斯托瑞斯表示，此外，飞机上的传感器套件、控制台和软件都是最先进的。

第一架降落在德国领土上的 P-8A 海神反潜巡逻机于周五下午早些时候降落在柏林机场，它从冰岛凯夫拉维克机场飞来，此前它从西雅图附近的波音工厂经停了凯夫拉维克机场。

“正如我刚才了解到的，这当然不是一次普通的转机飞行。所以所有的控制台都已开启，他们对所有设备都进行了彻底的测试，”迪尔茨说道。他的结论是，这架飞机的性能“确实非常强大”。

德茨表示，德国将再接收7架P-8A“海神”反潜巡逻机，其中2架计划“在不久的将来”交付。德国联邦国防军还保留了增购4架该型飞机的选择权，这将使机队总数达到12架。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。