India has already deployed its original eight long-range P-8I aircraft to track submarine movements in the Indian Ocean.
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India and the United States on Wednesday underscored their military partnership with the signing of a deal worth over $1 billion for the purchase of four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Two officials from the Defence Ministry and an industry official told the news agency that the deal is aimed at boosting the Indian Navy’s efforts to check China’s presence in the Indian Ocean.
The deal for four P-8I aircraft follows India’s earlier purchase of eight of the planes from the American aerospace giant in 2009.
A spokewoman for Boeing defence, space and security in India, Amrita Dhindsa said that the P81 was an aircraft used for not only for long-range patrol but was also equipped with Harpoon missiles for anti-submarine warfare. The contract was inked during the ongoing visit of US Under Secretary for Defence on Acquisition Frank Kendall, and is seen as a sign of growing Indo-US defence ties, they said.
Boeing executives were unavailable for comments.
According to sources of industry said that a year ago Boeing completed the delivery of the last of the aircraft under the previous order worth $2.1 billion.
The navy is looking to beef up its fleet to strengthen its capabilities against submarines and surface ships.
P-8Is are often called the “hawk eyes” of the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean region.
India’s largest military hardware supplier then was the former Soviet Union with whom the Indian government signed a treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation in 1971 that specified mutual strategic cooperation despite India’s espousal of non-alignment.
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The country has signed several big-ticket defence deals since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party stormed to power in 2014.
