NEWS

Aviation and defence colossus Boeing delivered India’s 12th maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare P-8I aircraft

P-8I AIRCRAFT

• Designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions
• “Multi-mission aircraft” with “state of the art sensors, proven weapons systems, and a globally recognised platform
• First aircraft produced by Boeing flew in 2009
• First of these aircraft was inducted in 2013, and it made India the first country outside the United States to get one.
• Now, apart from India and the US, it has been chosen by six other militaries in the world.
• Variants — the P-8I, which is manufactured for the Indian Navy, and the P-8A Poseidon, which is flown by the US Navy, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
• P-8I have replaced the ageing Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-142s and it is capable of anti-submarine; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); patrolling, coastline defence, and other operations.
• The P-8I can fly as high as 41,000 feet, and has a short transit time.
• It is also used for low altitude, humanitarian, and search and rescue missions.
• The aircraft has two engines, and is about 40 meters long, with a wingspan of 37.64 metres.
• It requires a crew of nine, and has a range of 1,200+ nautical miles, with 4 hours on station, which means about 2,222 km.
• The aircraft comes with one of the most advanced weapon systems in the world, and has a life of around 25 years, or 25,000 hours in the harshest maritime flight regimes, including extended operations in icing environments.