INS_Vikrant
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India, which had first signed a contract for eight such aircraft in 2009, is also negotiating a deal for six more P-8I with the US under the government-to-government route.
New Delhi: Amid the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy Wednesday got its ninth P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, part of the nearly $1 billion deal with the US for four additional planes signed in 2016.
India, which had first signed a contract for eight such aircraft in 2009, is also negotiating a deal for six more P-8Is with the US under the government-to-government route.
Incidentally, the aircraft, the latest of which landed at INS Hansa in Goa early Wednesday morning, is also being used by India in Ladakh for surveillance besides the Indian Ocean Region. It was deployed during the 2017 Doklam standoff as well.
The Indian Navy has been put on complete operational alert and almost its entire Western and Eastern Fleet are out in the Indian Ocean Region as part of India’s response to Chinese aggression.
While the ninth aircraft was scheduled to be handed over to the Indian Navy in July this year, the Covid pandemic delayed plans. The remaining three are scheduled to be handed over to India in 2021.
The Indian fleet of P-8I aircraft, a variant of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft that Boeing developed as a replacement for the US Navy’s ageing P-3 fleet, has surpassed 25,000 flight hours since it was inducted in 2013.
India had become the first international customer for the P-8 aircraft with the conclusion of the nearly $2.1 billion contract on 1 January 2009 for a total of eight aircraft
New Delhi: Amid the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy Wednesday got its ninth P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, part of the nearly $1 billion deal with the US for four additional planes signed in 2016.
India, which had first signed a contract for eight such aircraft in 2009, is also negotiating a deal for six more P-8Is with the US under the government-to-government route.
Incidentally, the aircraft, the latest of which landed at INS Hansa in Goa early Wednesday morning, is also being used by India in Ladakh for surveillance besides the Indian Ocean Region. It was deployed during the 2017 Doklam standoff as well.
The Indian Navy has been put on complete operational alert and almost its entire Western and Eastern Fleet are out in the Indian Ocean Region as part of India’s response to Chinese aggression.
While the ninth aircraft was scheduled to be handed over to the Indian Navy in July this year, the Covid pandemic delayed plans. The remaining three are scheduled to be handed over to India in 2021.
The Indian fleet of P-8I aircraft, a variant of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft that Boeing developed as a replacement for the US Navy’s ageing P-3 fleet, has surpassed 25,000 flight hours since it was inducted in 2013.
India had become the first international customer for the P-8 aircraft with the conclusion of the nearly $2.1 billion contract on 1 January 2009 for a total of eight aircraft