Navy gets full complement of P-8I maritime aircraft

Context

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has delivered the 12th P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft to the Indian Navy.

• This completes the follow-on clause for four additional P-8I aircraft contracted in 2016.

Key-facts of P-8I

• The P-8I is an integral part of the Indian Navy’s fleet and has surpassed 35,000 flight hours since it was inducted in 2013.
• The P-8 is a “multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft, excelling at anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and search and rescue”.
• While the Indian Navy uses it for maritime operations, the aircraft was also used in eastern Ladakh in 2020 and 2021, when the standoff with China was at its peak, to keep an eye on Chinese troops and their manoeuvres.
• The aircraft for the Indian Navy are called P-8I, and have replaced the ageing Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-142s.
• The P-8Is are capable of anti-submarine; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); patrolling, coastline defence, and other operations.

Background

• In 2009, India had placed an order for eight planes, which were called P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft (MMA), by the US Navy.
  • The order had a clause allowing the purchase of four more aircraft later.
  • India exercised that option, and placed the order for four more aircraft in 2016.
• The first eight of these aircraft are stationed at INS Rajali in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu, on the eastern coast.
• The batch of the additional four are part of another squadron at INS Hansa in Goa, named Indian Naval Air Squadron 316.
• The P-8I started operations at INS Hansa in January, after the first of them reached there on December 30, 2021.