Delays, P-8A Poseidon | The new billion planes on Evenes have been on the ground since February

Just after 9.30 pm on Thursday 24 February, the first of Norway’s new maritime patrol aircraft, 9583 «Viking», landed at Evenes. By the end of March, pilots and the rest of the crews who will operate the new aircraft were to start flight training from Evenes. It did not happen.

Until now, the plane has been on the ground. The latest is that the first plane will take off from Evenes in early June. In August next year, P-8 Poseidon will take over the operations of the old maritime patrol aircraft P-3 Orion, which is based on Andøya.

Impatient with getting started

The commander of the Air Force, Major General Rolf Folland, confirms to Fremover that not everything has gone according to plan with the new maritime patrol aircraft.

– I’m kind of impatient, Folland answers diplomatically.

Going forward, it is known that Folland has been much clearer internally and up against the Armed Forces, which manages the new aircraft on behalf of the Armed Forces. Defense materiel is a separate agency that is responsible for both procuring, managing and phasing out materiel for the Armed Forces.

During the next week, the third of the five aircraft Norway has bought from the US Navy will land on Evenes.

The last two, of the total of five aircraft Norway has acquired, will not arrive in Evenes until the summer of next year.

Rolf Folland says that the Air Force has a strict plan for testing and evaluating the new aircraft. That it would take over three months from the first plane landed on Evenes until the first was allowed to take off from the new airport was not part of the plan.

– We are ready

According to the Air Force’s chief of staff, part of the reason for the delay is that parts of the maintenance manuals for the new aircraft have still not been approved.

– One of the things we are waiting to get approved is the manual for the POL products; petroleum, oils and lubricants.

This is where a challenge has emerged, as Folland describes it.

– Defense equipment must first classify the products we are going to use. Then the Armed Forces’ logistics organization must order.

– We in the Air Force are ready, but there is still an approval from the Armed Forces before the products can be ordered.

The commander of the Air Force says that both ground and flight crews have worked intensively with what they have had the opportunity to do, without the plane having had permission to take off, since the first aircraft arrived in Evenes at the end of February.

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Need an extra round in the simulator

– We have done a lot, and I still do not think we have to postpone the time for initial operational capacity (IOC) in August next year.

Until the IOC, aircraft and crews will carry out a comprehensive testing and evaluation before the system can be declared combat-ready. First then the new Poseidon aircraft can take over for the P-3 Orion.

Due to the delay, however, several of the pilots have to go through an extra round of simulator before they are allowed to fly. The two planes that have already arrived in Evenes, “Viking” and “Ulabrand”, must also be flown by test pilots before the other pilots can be released. The reason for this is that it has been too long since the planes were last on the wings.

Next week, however, plane number three lands on Evenes; “Munin”. It is this aircraft that according to the new plan will first take off with pilots and operators from the 333 Squadron at Evenes.

Crews on assembly lines

– Will the delay inflict additional costs on the Air Force?

– There is not much extra cost. Something will be enough for an extra simulator training, but the most important thing for me now is that we manage to keep momentum in the process.

– There will be crews on assembly lines who will operate the new machines. They can not go for weeks without practicing their skills. Competence is fresh, Folland explains.

A total of ten full crews will be trained for the five aircraft that will be operational from next year.

– Will the delay have any bearing on the delivery of maritime surveillance from the Air Force?

– No. And I also believe that we will be able to follow the plan for when P-8 Poseidon will take over for P-3 Orion in August 2023.

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A demanding customer

Folland adds that the cooperation with Forsvarsmateriell is good, despite the delay.

– We have a good dialogue with Defense Materiel, but the Air Force wants to be a demanding customer.

– We want deliveries on time and quality, but we depend on others’ deliveries for us to be able to fly the planes. This responsibility is now shared, and we do not like when we can not keep schedule. We must be good at that, Folland emphasizes.

Chief of Air Capacities in Defense Materiel, Brigadier Jarle Nergård, says he understands the frustration as a result of not everything going as planned with the delivery of P-8 Poseidon. However, the reason does not lie in the quality of the material.

– The quality is good, and with a few exceptions, the deliveries have gone exactly according to plan, Nergård says.

Large projects that take time

However, defense equipment is not only responsible for the acquisition and management of the new maritime patrol aircraft. The Defense Materiel’s portfolio includes both new artillery, the so-called scandal helicopter NH90, vessels for the Norwegian Navy, F-35 and the acquisition of new tanks as well as the disposal of discarded equipment – to name a few.

– Some of these larger projects, such as NH90, consume much more time and focus with our professionals than we would have liked. This in turn means that when challenges arise on other projects such as P-8, which it inevitably does, it quickly has consequences for the schedule, Nergård explains.

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Soluble, but time consuming

Jarle Nergård also specifically explains the challenges with some of the maintenance products for the new aircraft.

– When we were to order lubricating oils, cleaners and varnishes that we need for daily maintenance, it became clear that we can not rely on the lists of such materials that we have received from the US Navy.

The lists from the US Navy turned out to contain special military products in everything from lubricating oil to cleaning cloths. All documentation for the aircraft was based on their use, and the products were not available for purchase on the civilian market in Europe.

– Therefore, we have had to work through all the documentation for P-8, find the corresponding civilian product and confirm that these can be used – and how. Then we had to update the maintenance manuals and get them approved. Then we have to order the products.

– This is solvable, but it is also time consuming, Nergård explains.

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Temporary solutions

Nergård acknowledges that it is unfortunate that the mentioned problems have led to delays in the start of training and operations with the new aircraft from Evenes.

According to Nergård, it is also not quite as simple as it only depends on the Armed Forces delivering.

– We are also dependent on deliveries from others in the Armed Forces.

The Air Force, the Armed Forces and the Armed Forces’ logistics organization have now joined forces to find temporary solutions and approvals for the areas where we see that things will still take time.

Among other things, work is being done to obtain permits to purchase enough of the US military maintenance products to get started with the training until civilian products can be used.

– We hope this means that things loosen up soon, and that we will see a Norwegian P-8 take off from Evenes for the first time in early June.