NEW DELHI: India now seems to be reviving its case for the procurement of six more advanced P-8I long-range maritime patrol and submarine-hunting aircraft from the US, which was put on hold around three years ago.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s summit with President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, government sources told TOI the case is being “re-examined” due to the operational need to further expand surveillance in the Indian Ocean and beyond due to the ever-expanding Chinese footprint in the region.
“The US has been asked to quote a reasonable price for the six P-8I aircraft for the proposed government-to-government deal under its foreign military sales (FMS) programme. It will then be seen whether it is feasible or not,” a source said. The Navy already has 12 P-8I aircraft, packed with multi-mode radars and advanced electro-optic sensors as well as Harpoon Block-II missiles, MK-54 lightweight torpedoes, rockets and depth charges. The Boeing-manufactured planes were inducted under two deals, together worth over $3.2 billion, inked in 2009 and 2016.
While P-8Is are primarily meant for hunting and destroying enemy submarines and warships, India has also extensively used them to keep tabs on Chinese troops and infrastructure along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control since the military confrontation erupted in eastern Ladakh in April 2020.
In May 2021, the US state department had notified its Congress about the proposed sale of the six P-8Is and related equipment worth $2.4 billion to India. The price offer, however, expired after India put the deal on hold. Now, if India goes ahead, the cost is bound to go up.
The Navy, of course, will also get 15 of the 31 weaponised MQ-9B ‘Predator’ drones meant for long-range “hunt and kill” missions under the mega $3.4 billion contract inked with the US last Oct, with Army and IAF getting eight each.
The US has bagged lucrative Indian defence deals worth over $25 billion just since 2007. But Trump is already pushing for more, and even called upon India to increase its procurement of US-origin weapon systems during a telephonic conversation with Modi on January 27.
Apart from P-8Is, the US is hard-selling joint manufacture of the eight-wheeled Stryker armoured infantry combat vehicles, in addition to the co-production of the General Electric F414-INS6 aero-engines in India for Tejas Mark-II fighters, as earlier reported by TOI.
The US is also keen on IAF’s long-standing project for 114 new multi-role fighter aircraft to be manufactured in India with foreign collaboration at an initial estimate of Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
US aviation major Lockheed Martin, in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, is also a contender for IAF’s medium transport aircraft project to acquire 80 planes to replace the old Soviet-origin AN-32 fleet.
