The Indian Navy, on 18 November, received the first of the four new P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, at the naval airbase in Goa, in a major boost to its anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The Indian government had signed a 1.1 billion contract with the US in July 2016 to buy four P-8I aircraft after the initial order for eight such planes was completed. Six more are being procured.
The Indian Navy is the largest foreign customer of the P8 platform. Apart from India, the US and Australia also use P8 aircraft. The Navy plans to have a total of 22 of these aircraft in the next few years to keep an eye on Chinese movements in the Indian Ocean Region, most importantly its submarines.
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Amid heightened Indo-China tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian Navy’s deployed its anti-submarine warfare aircraft in eastern Ladakh to carry out surveillance in the area. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed all its frontline fighter jets like Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft in the airbases in eastern Ladakh and nearby areas.
The Indian Army had successfully used the P-8I aircraft to monitor Chinese movements along the border during the 73-day-long Doklam standoff. The aircraft were live-streaming data to support decision making during the Doklam face-off. The aircraft was also put to use “to keep an eye on movement of Pakistani troops after the Pulwama terror attack last year”.
The aircraft arrived at a time when the Indian Navy was holding the Malabar naval exercise in the Arabian Sea with its Quad partners – the US, Japan and Australia. India’s P8-I aircraft were also participating in the exercise.
Boeing’s P-8I aircraft, which is considered one of the world’s most advanced surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft, is designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Purchase History
In January 2009, Boeing was selected by the Indian Government to supply eight P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft to the Indian Navy. The contract also included an option for four P-8I aircraft. The Indian Navy was the first export customer for the aircraft.
The maiden flight of the first P-8I aircraft was made in September 2011. The official flight test programme of the aircraft began in July 2012. The second P-8I aircraft performed its first flight in the same month.
The first P-8I aircraft was delivered to the Indian Navy in December 2012. The remaining aircraft were delivered between 2013 and 2015. The eight P-8I aircraft, which were inducted into the Indian Navy are armed with Harpoon Block-II missiles and MK-54 light weight torpedoes.
The countermeasures for the IN aircraft are provided by directional infrared counter-measures (DIRCM) system and the electronic support measures (ESM) system supplied by Northrop Grumman. The DIRCM can protect the aircraft from incoming infrared guided missiles.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved the acquisition of four additional Boeing P-8I aircraft in mid-2016.
P-8I Design and Construction
The P-8I aircraft is based on the Boeing Next Generation 737-800 aircraft. The forward section of the under-fuselage houses an internal weapons bay. The wings are fitted with hard-points for carrying air-to-surface missiles.
The aircraft has a length of 39.47m, wing span of 37.64m and a height of 12.83m. The maximum take-off gross weight of the P-8I is 85,139kg.
The P-8I aircraft are produced by a Boeing-led industry team, comprising CFM International, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation. The aircraft are being built at Boeing’s production facility in Renton.
The fuselage is built by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita and shipped to Renton, for fabrication and final assembly. The flight testing of P-8I is conducted from Boeing Field in Seattle. The final design review was concluded in July 2010 and production of the P-8I began in December 2010. The final assembly of the first aircraft was completed in August 2011.
The P-8I aircraft is manned by nine crew members. The cockpit is integrated with primary flight display, multifunction displays, identification friend or foe (IFF), flight management system and stores management system.
The aircraft is equipped with a CAE AN/ASQ-508A magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) system, APS-143C (V)3 multimode radar and a global version of the Raytheon APY-10 surveillance radar.
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The APY-10 radar provides precise information in all-weather, day and night missions. The P-8I also integrates BEL Data Link II communications system, Avantel mobile satellite system and a speech secrecy system from Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL).
The internal weapons bay can house Mark 54 torpedoes, depth charges and free-fall bombs. The under-wing hard-points can be armed with air-to-surface missiles.
The P-8I aircraft is powered by two CFM56-7 engines supplied by CFM International, a joint venture between SnecmaMoteurs and GE Electric. Each engine provides a take-off thrust of 27,300lb. The engines are equipped with a new-generation full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system.
The P-8I aircraft can fly at a maximum speed of 789km/h and can reach a maximum altitude of 12,496m. The aircraft has a maximum range of 2,222km with four hours on station.
MiG-29K Trainer Aircraft Crashes
Indian Navy’s MiG-29K trainer aircraft crashed into the Arabian sea on 27 November. One of the two pilots on board the tandem-seat trainer was rescued, whilst the body of Commander Nishant Singh, a qualified MiG-29K instructor, was found on 7 December.
The jet had taken off for a sortie from India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. MiG-29K – the Russian-origin fighter planes – operate from the deck of INS Vikramaditya, which had taken part in the recent Malabar naval drills involving the Quad navies of US, Australia, India and Japan in the northern Arabian sea.
The MiG-29KUB trainer was part of a fleet of 45 similar Russian fighters that have been problematic ever since their induction into service from 2009.
No distress call was seemingly raised by either of the two pilots of the ill-fated platform; an investigation was launched into the accident, which was the fourth since 2018 involving the IN’s fleet of MiG-29K/KUB fighters and trainers.
In February 2020, a single-seat MiG-29K had crashed whilst on a routine flight from its base at INS Hansa in Goa, and three months later a MIG-29KUB trainer was involved in an accident following a bird strike. Earlier, in January 2018 a MiG-29K had crashed after veering off the runway at Hansa, leaving a total of some 41 of 45 platforms in operational service presently, almost half of which are kept in reserve.
