The ‘Pride of Moray’, the first of the RAF’s new P-8A Poseidon aircraft fleet has landed in Scotland. With only three months to go until it moves from RAF Kinloss to its new home at RAF Lossiemouth, we take a closer look at how the £132 million strategic facility for Boeing is shaping up.
The fleet of nine hi-tech defence aircraft is set to boost the UK’s maritime patrol capability. Being much larger and heavier aircraft than the Typhoons operating from Lossiemouth, the new facility is designed to hold three P-8A Poseidon at any one time and includes maintenance space, flight planning rooms, pilot simulators and offices for up to 600 aircrew, engineers and personnel.
Robertson has been on the ground at RAF Lossiemouth since April 2018. To give some idea of the scale of the project, up to 280 double-decker buses could park in the new building. Once complete, RAF Lossiemouth will be the only airbase with an infrastructure similar to Jacksonville in Florida, the third-largest naval air station in the United States.
The programme is on track and on budget in readiness for the arrival of the Pride of Moray in May. The remainder of the fleet are scheduled to arrive at the base in Autumn 2020.
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STRUCTURE OVERVIEW
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