The Hindu
Work on the Indian Navy’s latest acquisition, the long-range maritime patrol aircraft that will add strength to its ability in domain awareness and deal with threats below the surface, will get underway later this year.
For the present, the United States Navy is gearing up to put the second plane (T2) to test its primary mission system next month, having conducted preliminary trials for airworthiness during April on test plane one (T1) at its facility.
The Boeing Company is developing the long-range patrol aircraft for the U.S. Navy, called P8A, and the Indian Navy is getting the P8I to specifications as provided by it.
The contract was signed in January 2009, with the first delivery scheduled 48 months from the date.
“The Indian Navy is the first foreign customer that Boeing is developing for the U.S. Navy,” P8I Programme Manager Leland Wight told a group of journalists from India after a tour of the Renton facility here, where the737 platform, on which the P8 is being developed, is finally assembled.
The group was later taken around the T2, at the Puget Sound facility, where the aircraft is being prepared before being handed over to the U.S. Navy.
The aircraft has multiple weapon stations armed with anti-submarine Harpoon missiles, torpedoes in weapons bay that can be launched into water up to 1,000 feet and advanced radar and sensors. The plane can travel 1,200 nautical miles. It can stay on for four hours before heading to its base and with mid-air refuelling, it can undertake a mission for longer hours.
It has five identical mission operator consoles, with each having the ability to select which sensor they want to study with two observer stations. The aircraft is designed for user to expand and configure 21 crew seats.
The Indian Navy conducted a preliminary design review in October last and held a conference here in February this year. Equipment provided by the Electronics Corporation of India Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited to go on board is being checked. Fabrication of the first aircraft will begin during the last quarter of 2010, he said.
Technically, the Indian Navy has to arrange for acceptance trials for each aircraft it ordered, but it has decided to take delivery after initial ones, since the basic airframe and other equipment are being subjected to tests by the U.S. Navy. The Indian Navy has reserved the option to place order for additional four aircraft.
