Explained: P-8I, the Indian Navy’s frontline multi-mission aircraft

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Aviation and defence colossus Boeing delivered India’s 12th maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare P-8I aircraft on Thursday (February 24). The first of these aircraft was inducted in 2013, and it made India the first country outside the United States to get one. The Navy has been receiving them regularly since.

The aircraft is designed for “long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions”, according to its maker, and is a “multi-mission aircraft” with “state of the art sensors, proven weapons systems, and a globally recognised platform”.

First in US and India

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, which is flown by the US Navy, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal Norwegian Air Force. It has also been selected by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the Republic of Korea Navy, and the German Navy.

Naval operations

According to Boeing, the P-8 is a “multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft, excelling at anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and search and rescue”.

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, to keep an eye on Chinese troops and their manoeuvres.

The aircraft for the Indian Navy are called P-8I, and have replaced the ageing Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-142s. The P-8Is are capable of anti-submarine; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); patrolling, coastline defence, and other operations.

12 aircraft

In 2009, India had placed an order for eight planes, which were called P-8A Poseidon multimission maritime aircraft (MMA), by the US Navy. The order had a clause allowing the purchase of four more aircraft later. India exercised that option, and placed the order for four more aircraft in 2016.

The first eight of these aircraft are stationed at INS Rajali in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu, on the eastern coast. The batch of the additional four are part of another squadron at INS Hansa in Goa, named Indian Naval Air Squadron 316.

The P-8I started operations at INS Hansa in January, after the first of them reached there on December 30, 2021. “The aircraft were inducted after fitment of indigenous equipment and Flight Acceptance Trials. On arrival, the aircraft were welcomed by a MiG 29K formation,” the Navy had said in January.

Tech specs

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”. It is also used for low altitude, and humanitarian, and search and rescue missions.

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”.

Weapons systems

The aircraft comes with one of the most advanced weapon systems in the world, and has a life of around 25 years, or 25,000 hours in the “harshest maritime flight regimes, including extended operations in icing environments”.

It is one of Boeing’s “most advanced aircraft”, and the P-8A “uses a first-in-industry in-line production system”. It plays a “crucial role in being the eyes of the Indian Navy and carrying out critical maritime operations”, and provides it a “significant edge in the strategically important Indian Ocean region,” Boeing says.

The Navy’s fleet has surpassed 29,000 flight-hours since their induction in 2013, and is responsible for coastal patrolling, search-and-rescue, anti-piracy, and supporting operations of other arms of the military, it says.

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