India to acquire Harpoons for HDW submarines

A scaled-down model of the Harpoon missile at Aero India 2015 | Photo: StratPost

The Indian government has received a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) from the US government for the purchase of 22 Harpoon missiles for the Indian Navy’s Shishumar-class of submarines.

India has already ordered 23 Harpoon missiles for the eight Indian Navy P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft for an estimated USD 200 million and 22 Harpoon missiles for the Indian Air Force (IAF) Jaguar aircraft in an order worth USD 170 million.

Dennis Swanson, the head of India operations for Boeing Defense Space and Security, the prime contractor for Harpoon missiles, told StratPost, “We see significant potential for the Harpoon’s capabilities to be applied on other platforms by the Indian armed forces.”

While India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is to integrate the missiles on to the Jaguar, Boeing has integrated them on to the P-8I aircraft, itself.

The new order for the Harpoon missiles and their integration on two of the Indian Navy’s four Shishumar-class (HDW Type-209) submarines, in addition to the required modifications on the two submarines, is expected to cost an estimated USD 200 million and the planned purchase currently awaits the Indian government’s approval of the the US government’s Letter of Acceptance (LoA).

The FMS order will include ’12 UGM-84L Harpoon Block II Encapsulated Missiles, 10 UTM-84L Harpoon Encapsulated Training missiles, 2 Encapsulated Harpoon certification training vehicles, containers, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical data, US Government and contractor engineering and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support’, according to notification issued by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) to the US Congress.