India’s Navy to Receive Four P-8I Neptune Maritime Patrol Aircraft

A RAAF P-8A Poseidon supports sea trials for the NUSHIP Hobart in the Gulf St Vincent off the coast of Adelaide.

The Indian Navy will induct four more Boeing P-8I Neptune advanced maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft this May, according to Indian Navy sources.

India’s Navy to Begin Receiving 4 More P-8I Neptune Maritime Patrol Aircraft in May
An Indian Navy P8I Poseidon conducts a low altitude fly by alongside a U.S. Navy guided-missile during a bilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean, April 15, 2019.Credit: U.S. Navy

This appears to confirm earlier reports this year that the first of the four aircraft will be delivered in the middle of 2020. “Based on the contract, the first of the four aircraft will be delivered in mid-2020 and the remaining three in 2021” a Boeing Spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Economic Times on February 17.

“These aircraft will also be in the same configuration as the earlier eight aircraft,” the Navy source was quoted as saying by The Hindu on March 18. “Plans are on to install encrypted communication systems on the earlier ones.”

The Indian government and Boeing concluded a $2.1 billion contract for the purchase of eight P-8I aircraft in 2009 making India the first international customer of an export variant of the maritime patrol aircraft. The Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) placed a $1.1. billion follow-on order for four additional P-8Is in 2016.  The Indian MoD approved the procurement of 10 more P-8Is in June 2019.

The P-8I is equipped with some of the most modern U.S. anti-submarine warfare (ASW) technology including a Telephonics APS-143 OceanEye aft radar system and a cutting-edge magnetic anomaly detector The APS-143 is not present on the original P-8A Poseidon in use by the U.S. Navy.

The aircraft is also armed with U.S. weapons systems including Harpoon Block-II missiles and MK-54 lightweight torpedoes. The aircraft are all data-linked with Indian submarines in order to have the capability to pass on information about enemy vessels.

© 2020, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.