SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Boeing announced yesterday, its P-8A team and Spirit AeroSystems employees, have laid the keel beam for New Zealand’s first P-8A.
Laying the keel is an important production milestone, during the building of any ship or aircraft, and represents the cornerstone of this latest P-8, Boeing said.
This process was done at the Spirit AeroSystems facility, where all Boeing 737 fuselages, nacelles and pylons are designed and built.
The panel and other fuselage components will be completed on Spirit’s existing 737 production line. Spirit will ship the P-8A fuselage to a Boeing Commercial Airplanes facility in Renton, Washington, for final assembly, according to the announcement.
Boeing will install mission systems and complete testing prior to delivery to New Zealand later this year. New Zealand is one of P-8’s eight global customers, the announcement said.
