Indian Navy Receives 12th Boeing P-8I Aircraft

The Indian Navy has taken delivery of the 12th P-8I maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing, on February 19.

This is the fourth of four additional aircraft delivered under the options contract signed by the Ministry of Defence in 2016.

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. In addition to its maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the P-8I has been deployed to assist during disaster relief and humanitarian missions.

Several complex and mission critical P-8I components such as the radar fingerprinting system, IFF (I/T) and datalink, speech secrecy system, mobile satcom system and wire harnesses are made in India by supplier partners, including Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) located across the nation. Boeing plans to enhance in-country technical services support for the P-8I fleet by leveraging the skills and expertise of Boeing’s India Engineering and Technology Center.

Boeing is also completing construction on the Training Support & Data Handling Centre at INS Rajali, Arakkonam, in Tamil Nadu, and a secondary center at the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Kochi, as part of a training-and-support package contract signed in 2019. The indigenous, ground-based training will allow the IN crew to increase mission proficiency in a shorter time, while reducing the on-aircraft training time resulting in increased aircraft availability for mission tasking.