Indian Navy orders four additional P-8I aircrafts
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by PM Narendra Modi, has approved the purchase of four additional Boeing P-8I Neptune aircrafts, which are expected to enter service with the Indian Navy over the next three years. The order is said to be worth over $1 billion (Rs 6,700 crore).
India’s 7500-km coastline and its numerous islands are vulnerable to attacks from patrolling enemy submarines and vessles. The P-8I aircrafts were chosen for their endurance and state of the art Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability. These aircrafts have ferry range of about 2000 km from their base, where they can patroll the seas bellow for 4 hours, detecting and engaging enemy submarines before flying back to base.
Considering that the P-8I’s are based on Boeing’s extremely popular commercial aircraft Boeing 737, its easy to maintain and availability of spares will not be a concer or the India Navy.
The P-8I Neptune is an India variant of USA’s P-8A ‘Poseidon’ anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and maritime patrol aircraft. The Indian version replaced a lot of the US electronic systems with indigenous versions.
Eight aircrafts were ordered by the Indian Ministry of Defence back in 2010 for a price of $2.1 billion.
With all eight aircrafts now in service, the Indian Navy is able to greatly project its power across the Indian Ocean.
The four P-8I’s are slated to phase-out the decades-old Russian Tu-142 maritime aircrafts (8 in total) that were bought in 1988.
With the capability to carry 120 sonobouys, depth charges and 6-8 torpedoes internally, these aircrafts can engage a wide variety of underwater and surface threats. Four Harpoon (anti-ship) missiles can be attached externally to the wings of the aircraft.
(Source : indianexpress.com)
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