(Press Release | Unedited)
Indian Naval Aviation received a major fillip with the arrival of the first of eight Boeing P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance and Anti Submarine Warfare (LRMRASW) aircraft at Naval Air Station Rajali (Arakkonam) on 15 May 2013. The remaining seven aircraft would be delivered over the next two years. The P-8I aircraft, based on the Boeing 737-800(NG) airframe, is the Indian Naval variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing has developed for the US Navy. The aircraft is equipped with foreign & indigenous sensors for Maritime Reconnaissance, Anti Submarine operations and Electronic Intelligence missions. The aircraft is fully integrated with state of the art sensors and highly potent Anti Surface and Anti Submarine weapons.
These LRMRASW aircraft have been procured under the contract signed in 2009. The Indian Navy is in process of procuring an additional four P-8I aircraft under the option clause. The P-8I aircraft would greatly enhance India's maritime surveillance capability in the Indian Ocean Region. Vice Admiral Bimal Kumar Verma, Chief of Staff (Eastern Naval Command) received the aircraft in a function organized at INS Rajali.