First Marineflieger Poseidon arrives in Germany

The first of eight P-8A aircraft was delivered to Berlin on 7 November 2025. The German Navy's fleet of such aircraft will all be handed over by the end of 2029. (Bundeswehr)

The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon multimission maritime aircraft (MMA) for the German Navy (Deutsche Marine) arrived in the country on 7 November.

Aircraft 63+01 (the Bundeswehr has assigned 63 to the P-8A, with 01 denoting the first such aircraft) was received into Berlin Brandenburg Airport by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and senior military officials following its transit flight from Boeing's Seattle production facilities in the US.

“The [airmen] of Naval Aviation Squadron 3 from [the home of German Naval Aviation (Marineflieger) at] Nordholz [on the German North Sea coast] had previously flown the aircraft from the US via Iceland to their new home in Germany,” the Bundeswehr said. “Germany's contribution to deterrence in the Far North will be largely based on this aircraft,” Pistorius added.

The first delivery to Germany milestone came five weeks after the aircraft was formally handed over to the Marineflieger in the US. The service is contracted to receive eight Poseidon MMAs for EUR3.1 billion (USD3.6 billion), with the German government having increased the original order for five in November 2023. This increase is part of a wider uplift in the national defence budget, specifically the EUR100 billion (USD118 billion) Söndervermögen (special fund) uplift following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. German national media has previously said that as many as seven more aircraft might be added for a final fleet of 12, although this now seems unlikely given wider budgetary pressures.

The remaining seven P-8As contracted for the Bundeswehr are to be delivered by 2029.