Indian Navy to acquire four more P-8I surveillance aircraft Rahul Bedi, New Delhi - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly 04 July 2016

Indian Navy to acquire four more P-8I surveillance aircraft

Rahul Bedi, New Delhi - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly 

04 July 2016

   

India is set to procure four additional Boeing P-8I Neptune long-range maritime multimission aircraft for USD1 billion. Source: Boeing

In mid-June, India's Cabinet Committee on Security announced that it had approved the USD1 billion procurement of four additional Boeing P-8I Neptune long-range maritime multimission aircraft for the Indian Navy (IN), via the United States' Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route.

IN officials told IHS Jane's that the P-8I deliveries would begin 36 months after the contract is signed sometime within the current financial year, which ends in March 2017, and be completed some 18 months thereafter.

The four aircraft will supplement eight other P-8Is the IN acquired in 2009 for USD2.1 billion, also via the FMS programme, and like them they will be based at the Indian Naval Station (INS) Rajali in Arakkonam, southern India.

With an operational range of 1,200 n miles the four prospective P-8Is will be equipped with Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems' newly designed AN/APY-10 multi-mission maritime, littoral and overland surveillance radar capable of providing high-resolution images in land and sea modes.

They will also be armed with Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles and Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Mk 54 Mod 0 lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedoes capable of being released from a height of around 6 km.

Since 2000 India has acquired USD14 billion worth of US materiel, largely via the FMS route. Moreover, equipment worth another USD 1-2 billion is currently under negotiation.

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