India is Likely to Buy Boeing P-81 Reconnaissance Aircraft

India is likely to buy Boeing’s P-81 long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft for the Indian Navy from Boeing, a report in the Times of India reported.

"Virtually all the steps required for the contract to be signed, including tabling of it in the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval, have been completed”, the report said quoting unnamed sources. The contract is reported to be worth US$ 1.8 billion current INR to Dollar conversion rate.

The first of these LRMR aircraft will be delivered within four years of the contract being actually signed, with the rest being handed over by 2015, said the report.

Incidentally, Navy is also in the hunt for six new medium-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft for around Rs 1,600 crore to achieve its aim of an effective three-tier surveillance grid in the entire Indian Ocean.

The P-8I aircraft are likely to be be armed with Harpoon missiles, torpedoes and depth bombs to give them potent anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capability.

The Boeing P-81 multi-mission aircraft is a variant of the US Navy's P-8A maritime warplane, The P-8A is a long-range anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, intelligence and surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad area, maritime and littoral operations. The system uses a Boeing 737-800 platform.