P-8 Poseidon tracker: every Boeing P-8 Poseidon flying right now
The P-8 Poseidon is a Boeing 737 turned submarine hunter. It carries sonobuoys, torpedoes and long-range sensors, patrols for hours over open ocean, and has become the standard maritime patrol aircraft of the US Navy and a growing list of allies. Its training and transit flights frequently broadcast their position.
Government and military aircraft appear here only when they broadcast their position publicly over ADS-B. Many of their flights do not.
| Flight | Registration | Operator | Type | Altitude | Speed |
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Boeing P-8 Poseidon at a glance
- Based on
- The Boeing 737-800 fuselage with the 737-900's wings, built on the 737 line in Renton
- First flight
- April 25, 2009
- Entered service
- US Navy, 2013
- Operators
- The US Navy, India (as the P-8I), Australia, the UK, Norway, New Zealand and South Korea; Germany and Canada have ordered it
- Built
- Around 190 by early 2026
What it does
The P-8 replaced the propeller-driven P-3 Orion. It flies out to a patrol area at jet speed, then drops sonobuoys, floating listening devices that radio back what they hear underwater, and tracks submarines with those, its radar and a magnetic detector. It can carry Harpoon anti-ship missiles and lightweight torpedoes, and its radar also watches surface shipping, which is why P-8s turn up around sanctions enforcement, search-and-rescue and migrant-boat patrols as well as submarine hunts.
Where you'll see it
US Navy P-8s fly from Jacksonville in Florida, Whidbey Island in Washington and Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii, with detachments in Japan, Italy and the Gulf. The Royal Air Force bases its Poseidons at Lossiemouth in Scotland, where they watch the sea lanes between the UK, Iceland and Norway. Australia flies them from Edinburgh near Adelaide, and India's P-8Is patrol the Indian Ocean. A P-8 flying long straight legs over the sea, far from any airport, is usually on patrol.
Questions
Is the P-8 a passenger 737?
It is built on the 737 line in Renton, Washington, with the 737-800's fuselage and the 737-900's wings, but it leaves the factory as a military aircraft with a weapons bay, a strengthened structure and no passenger cabin.
Why do P-8s fly so far out to sea?
Their job is to patrol ocean areas and track submarines, which means hours of flying over open water. Because few ADS-B receivers are out there, a P-8 often disappears from the map mid-patrol and reappears near the coast.
Why isn't an aircraft I know is flying on the map?
Positions come from volunteer ADS-B receivers, which only hear aircraft within roughly 200 nautical miles. Over oceans, deserts and parts of Africa and Asia there are few receivers, so an aircraft can vanish mid-flight and reappear near land. Military and some government aircraft also switch their transponders' public data off.
More live trackers
Positions from the adsb.lol volunteer ADS-B network (ODbL). Aircraft are shown only while a receiver can hear them.