12th Indian Navy P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft | Photo: Boeing
The 12th P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft was delivered to the Indian Navy on Wednesday.
This is the final aircraft to be delivered of an order for four aircraft placed by the Ministry of Defence in 2016, in addition to the initial eight aircraft contracted.
According to a Boeing statement, the Indian Navy’s P-8I fleet ‘has surpassed 35,000 flight hours since it was inducted in 2013’.
In addition, Boeing is ‘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 company said, “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.”
The Indian Navy was the first international customer for the aircraft, now operated by the Royal Australian Air Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and the Royal Norwegian Air Force, besides the U.S. Navy. Germany, New Zealand and South Korea have also ordered the aircraft.
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