Australia Invests $498 Million Support to RAAF’s Boeing P-8A Poseidon Aircraft

Australian ministry of defense (MoD) has announced AUD659 million (US $498 million) in funding to support the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF’s) Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime multimission aircraft.

Defence will invest AUD250 million in a Boeing training simulator system at RAAF Base Edinburgh, and AUD409 million to improve base facilities for full operations, estimated for completion by early 2019, the MoD said in a statement Sunday.

“This significant investment in Defence facilities will create more than 70 jobs in the local area,” Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne said. 

“Lendlease, the contractor engaged by Defence to construct the facilities at RAAF Base Edinburgh, has advised that the vast majority of the work to construct the facilities is going to contractors from the local area,” he said. 

“The simulator will be a part of a broader investment in the at RAAF Edinburgh to make it ‘Poseidon ready’ by extending the runway and building new state of the art maintenance hangars and facilities,” he added.