India has inducted its first Boeing Poseidon-8I aircraft, which will boost long range maritime snooping and warfare capability, into Navy at its air station INS Rajali on Wednesday.
Vice admiral B K Varma, chief of staff, Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy said “the aircraft is to be used for broad-area maritime and anti-submarine operations. The aircraft is going to be a unique part in our anti-surface warfare, surveillance and intelligence capacities”.
He said “it is capability based planning, not a threat based planning, that India follows to enhancement of maritime border security”.
As part of a detailed maritime mission plan, Varma said, different phases of coastal security schemes were also being implemented across the Indian maritime borders.
“For an effective understanding of the maritime related issues in Indian waters, a Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is now being designed to coordinate with 17 maritime agencies in the country. This will also ensure an identity for each and every fishing boat and vessels in Indian waters to avoid maritime safety and security violations,” he said.
The Boeing P8I is armed with anti-ship Harpoon missiles, Mark-54 anti-submarine torpedoes and Mark-82 depth bombs and was handed over to India in Seattle in December 2012.
It also has a Global Positioning System ( GPS)-cum-Inertial Navigation System that ensures accuracy in hitting targets.
It was in 2009 India signed a two billion dollar contract for a batch of eight aircraft, of which seven will be delivered by 2015.
Induction of P8Iaircraft is being observed as a significant development in enhancing India’s coastal security at a time when there are a lot of speculations about how China is involved in the development of a port near Karachi, a coast-based port of Gwadar.
