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Washington. India will be the Wfirst
international customer of the Boeing P-8I Poseidon,
a variant of the P-8A Poseidon, US Navy’s newest
maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft showcased
by the Boeing Company.
Ceremonially rolled out recently at the Boeing
facility in Renton, Washington, the P-8A, a derivative
of the Next-Generation 737-800, is a long-range
anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare,
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral
operations.
“The P-8A Poseidon will equip the US Navy with
the most advanced multi-mission maritime patrol
and reconnaissance aircraft in the world,” said
Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated
Defence Systems.
“The Poseidon is also the latest in a decades-long
Boeing tradition of working closely with the Navy
and other customers to deliver a wide range of
platforms that meet their most critical mission
requirements.”
As the replacement for the US Navy’s P-3C Orion
aircraft, the P-8A will provide greater payload
capacity, significant growth potential, unprecedented
flexibility and interoperability, and advanced
mission systems, software and communications,
Albaugh added.
“The P-8A programme is an outstanding example
of evolutionary acquisition at work,” said Capt.
Mike Moran, US Navy maritime patrol and reconnaissance
aircraft programme manager.
India is buying eight P-8I longrange maritime
reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft
for the Indian navy at a total cost of $2.1 billion
with each aircraft costing about $220 million.
These aircraft would replace Indian Navy’s aging
Tupolev Tu-142M maritime surveillance turboprops.
Boeing will deliver the first P-8I to India
by 2013 and the remaining seven by 2015. Interest
has been expressed by many other countries, including
Australia and Italy.
The P-8A for the US Navy is built by a Boeing-led
industry team that includes CFM International,
Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems
and GE Aviation.
The team currently is assembling and testing
the first five P-8As as part of the programme’s
System Development and Demonstration contract,
awarded in 2004.
The integrated Navy/Boeing team will begin formal
flight testing of the P-8A later this year. The
US Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8As, and initial
operational capability is planned for 2013.
(IANS)
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