The Indian Navy’s 11th P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft | Photo: Boeing
The Indian Navy has received its 11th Boeing P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft.
According to a statement issued by Boeing, ‘This is the third aircraft to be delivered under an option contract for four additional aircraft that the Indian Ministry of Defence awarded in 2016.’ This order of four aircraft was in addition to the eight aircraft already in service in the Indian Navy.
Additionally, the company is in the process of setting up a Training Support & Data Handling (TSDH) Centre. The statement said, “Boeing is completing construction on the Training Support & Data Handling (TSDH) Centre at INS Rajali, Arakkonam, in Tamil Nadu, and a secondary centre at the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Kochi, as part of a training-and-support package contract signed in 2019,” explaining that ‘The indigenous, ground-based training will allow the Indian Navy 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 P-8 aircraft, which is based on the Boeing 737 airframe. Since it was inducted in 2013, the aircraft has ‘surpassed 30,000 flight hours’ in service in the Indian Navy, which remains the largest non-U.S. operator of the aircraft.
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