The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) has took delivery of the third of five P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from the American aerospace company Boeing.

The last aircraft, named Munin, landed at the RNoAF’s Evenes Air Base in Nordland County, Norway.

RNoAF’s May 28 tweet reads: “Munin landed at Evenes Air Base this morning. It is the third of five P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft arriving in Norway. The P-8 Poseidon will take over for our P-3 Orion and DA-20.

In 2017, the Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency (NDMA) placed a $1.17 billion order for the purchase of five P-8A Poseidon aircraft from the United States.

Norway’s first aircraft, Vingtor, was deployed by Boeing from its Renton paint shop in the United States in July 2021 and was handed over to Norway in November of the same year.

The second aircraft, Viking, was received by Norway in February this year.

The five P-8A aircraft will replace the existing RNoAF fleet of P-3 Orion and DA-20 Jet Falcon aircraft.

The aircraft will be operated by the RNoAF’s 333 Squadron based at Evenes Air Station.

The other two aircraft, Ulabrand and Hugin, are expected to arrive next year.

The Boeing P-8A is a maritime patrol aircraft designed to perform multiple operations including search and rescue, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), humanitarian assistance, anti-surface warfare (ASuW ) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW).

The aircraft comes in two variants including P-8I and P-8A.

The P-8A is operated by the US Navy, RNoAF, UK Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

The P-8 aircraft is equipped with maritime weapons and features a modern open mission system architecture. The aircraft also has an in-flight refueling system.