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

P-8I Aircraft

• It is a multi-mission aircraft with state of the art sensors, proven weapons systems, and a globally recognised platform.
• The first aircraft produced by Boeing flew in 2009, and has been in service with the US Navy since 2013, the same year as the Indian Navy.
• Apart from India and the US, it has been chosen by six other militaries in the world.
• The aircraft has two variants — the P-8I, which is manufactured for the Indian Navy, and the P-8A Poseidon.
• The aircraft is designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

Naval operations

• While the Indian Navy uses it for maritime operations, the aircraft was also used in eastern Ladakh in 2020 and 2021, when the standoff with China was at its peak.
• The aircraft for the Indian Navy are called P-8I, and have replaced the ageing Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-142s.

Specifications and features

• The P-8I can fly as high as 41,000 feet, and has a short transit time, which reduces the size of the Area of Probability when searching for submarines, surface vessels or search and rescue survivors.
• The aircraft has two engines, and is about 40 metres long, with a wingspan of 37.64 metres.
• Each aircraft weighs about 85,000 kg, and has a top speed of 490 knots, or 789 km/hour.
• 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.
• According to Boeing, more than 140 P-8 aircraft have “executed more than 400,000 mishap-free flight-hours around the globe”.

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