P-8A Poseidon Lands At RAF Lossiemouth For First Time

A P-8A Poseidon has landed at RAF Lossiemouth for the first time.

The base in Moray, Scotland, has been undergoing an upgrade costing more than £400m in total ahead of the arrival of nine P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol aircraft, including runway resurfacing as part of £75m of works.

The P-8As are equipped with sensors and weapons systems designed for anti-submarine warfare, and will carry out surveillance and search and rescue missions, according to the RAF.

The runways were stripped, resurfaced and strengthened to accommodate the Air Force's new fleet which RAF Lossiemouth's official Twitter account confirmed began arriving today.

Facilities for the RAF Typhoons have also been upgraded as part of the works, with £20m being spent on the refurbishment of a hangar and the construction of new technical facilities.

Four squadrons of Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon jets are based at RAF Lossiemouth, with the first jet returning yesterday.

The fighter jets had moved to Leuchars Station in the summer to allow the works at Lossiemouth to go ahead.

The P-8A Poseidon aircraft have been flying from Kinloss Barracks during Lossiemouth’s revamp.

In July, a new £100m "state-of-the-art" facility at RAF Lossiemouth for the P-8A Poseidons was handed over to the Ministry of Defence.

The new facility can hold up to three of the RAF's eventual nine P-8A Poseidon aircraft and clocks in at 33,000 square metres.

The nine aircraft will cost the UK £3bn in total and are expected to be in the UK by the end of 2021.