Boeing Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Ready for Demonstration Flights

SEATTLE, Jan. 22, 2015 – The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) program is ready for customer demonstration flights, having completed the baseline ground and flight testing of the aircraft mission systems.

Flights for prospective customers around the world are scheduled to begin in the coming months. The mission system testing followed last year’s airworthiness and certification testing.

“The mission systems flight test program proved the functionality and performance of the onboard sensors and was a huge accomplishment for the MSA team,” said David Utz, MSA demonstrator flight test manager.

The testing included hundreds of scenarios to confirm performance of the Automatic Identification System, radar, Electro-Optical Infrared camera, communications radios and data links, Communications Intelligence System and the Electronic Support Measures.

MSA is a multi-intelligence maritime surveillance platform that leverages investments in the P-8A Poseidon and the Airborne Warning and Control System Block 40/45 aircraft mission systems to provide a high capability, low-risk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance solution in a mid-size business jet.

The aircraft’s potential missions include anti-piracy, immigration patrols, Economic Exclusion Zone enforcement, coastal and border security and long-range search and rescue.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing 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, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $33 billion business with 56,000 employees worldwide