German P-8A Poseidons will operate from UK base
October 28, 2024
UK defence secretary John Healey and German defence secretary Boris Pistorius signed a landmark defence agreement on Wednesday 23 October, 2024. Known as the Trinity House Agreement, it is a wide-ranging commitment to improve and enhance bilateral defence co-operation between the UK Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany and is aimed at boosting security, investment and jobs between the two nations, who have committed to working together for as long as it takes to support and enable Ukraine to counter Russian aggression..
Britain and Germany will work jointly to rapidly develop extended Deep Precision Strike capabilities, to provide a conventional deterrent in Europe and to strengthen European Integrated Air and Missile Defence. The UK and Germany will work to improve the connectivity and interoperability of Future Uncrewed Aerial Systems. The two nations will work to strengthening NATO’s Eastern Flank through a new Land Strategic Partnership.
The agreement also commits Britain and Germany to working jointly to strengthen UK-German naval co-operation, with a particular focus on the North Atlantic and North Sea. The two nations will aim to establish and share a clear and concise picture of underwater activity, significantly contributing to the protection of Critical Undersea Infrastructure and Sea Lines of Communications.
It is in this latter area that the Trinity House Agreement has attracted most press interest.
The agreement sets out that there will be ‘episodic deployments’ of German P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft in the UK to support interoperability and collaborative Anti-Submarine Warfare operations in the North Atlantic, as part of the “co-ordination of combined and joint operations in the North Atlantic, in close co-operation with Allies and partners, focussing on Anti-Submarine Warfare with ships, submarines, and aircraft.”
The agreement also sets out “Joint development of common training for our Maritime Patrol Aircraft crews,” and “Promoting a common co-operative procurement of the UK’s Lightweight Torpedo Stingray Mod 2 for our Maritime Patrol Aircraft.”
Germany has purchased eight P-8A Poseidon aircraft, and the budget for the first five aircraft was approved by the Bundestag on 23 June 2021. Funds for the three additional aircraft were released on 26 November 2023.
The first German Navy P-8A is due to make its first flight in November 2024, with first deliveries in the Spring of 2025.
The stationing of German Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft at Lossiemouth in Scotland will allow them to hunt Russian submarines in the North Atlantic. German Orions already operate from Lossiemouth occasionally.
Florian Hahn, the CSU’s defence policy spokesman, welcomed the Trinity House agreement, noting that the stationing of the P-8 aircraft and “the use of modern capabilities, for example for submarine hunting, contributes significantly to protecting the ‘Greenland-Iceland-UK gap’ and the critical transatlantic infrastructure.”
Germany is the eighth nation to have acquired the P-8A, joining the United States, Australia, India, the United Kingdom, Norway, Korea and New Zealand. It will further improve the German Navy’s ability to perform long-range maritime surveillance missions and will play a pivotal role in the region by leveraging existing infrastructure in Europe and full interoperability with NATO’s most advanced ASW assets.
