OREANDA-NEWS. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has selected Boeing [NYSE: BA] to provide the service with P-8 maintenance training devices. This is the first international sale of P-8 maintenance training equipment currently used by the U.S. Navy for its P-8A Poseidon fleet.

The RAAF virtual trainers were purchased through the U.S. Navy and RAAF Cooperative Program and will be used to train P-8A maintenance personnel starting in early 2018.

“This provides the RAAF with the ability to train its maintainers on more than 1,400 maintenance procedures using the Boeing provided suite of devices,” said Tom Wagner, Boeing’s P-8 maintenance program manager. “RAAF maintainers will be able to practice at great length before they are required to perform maintenance on the actual P-8A aircraft.”

The maintenance training devices provide interactive, high-fidelity simulations based on actual mission systems software while the hardware-based trainers are full-scale replicas of aircraft components.

Earlier this year, the RAAF ordered a Boeing P-8 aircrew training system for training pilots and mission crews to operate the aircraft, its sensors, communications and weapons systems.

In February 2014 the Australian government approved the acquisition of eight P-8A aircraft with an option for four more. That contract included training and initial spares and support equipment. Boeing plans to begin delivering the aircraft in late 2016 and the P-8A training system in 2018.

Boeing Aerostructures Australia manufactures ailerons for 737 series aircraft and their derivatives, including the P-8.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Defense, Space & Security is a $31 billion business with about 50,000 employees worldwide.