India is planning to buy more U.S. maritime planes and warships to strengthen its naval operational capabilities, local media reported on Thursday.
India plans to buy four more U.S. newly-developed P-8I maritime long-range patrol planes worth about one billion U.S dollars for its Navy, and the project of new P-8I acquisition will be taken up for approval in the coming meeting of the defense acquisitions council headed by Defense Minister A.K.Antony on Oct. 8, the Times of India reported, citing the source of the Indian Ministry of Defense.
Meanwhile, India will acquire two so-called newly- decommissioned Osprey-class coastal minesweepers from the U.S. for its Navy, and the U.S. Senate approved the transfer of the two ships to India on Monday, reported Press Trust of India.
The Indian Navy said its air surveillance fleet and coastal mine-sweeping group are aging and inadequate, and need to be replaced .
Presently, the Indian navy's air surveillance fleet consists of eight Russia-made Tu-142 long-range patrol planes acquired in the 1980s and five Russia-made long-range Il-38s, which entered the service in the 1970s.
The Indian Navy's coastal mine-hunting group comprises eight Russia-made Pondicherry class minesweepers procured between the 1970s and the 1980s and some Russia-made Mahe class minesweepers bought in the 1980s,
P-8I is the world's most sophisticated maritime long-range patrol plane, and the two Osprey class minesweepers commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Osprey class minesweepers are regarded as the second largest minesweepers and the largest glass-reinforced plastic warships in the world.
In January 2009, India signed an agreement with the U.S. to acquire eight P-8Is worth 2.1 billion U.S. dollars for its Navy. The Indian Navy will receive the eight P-8Is by 2016.
The four new P-8Is will greatly improve the Indian Navy's maritime long-range reconnaissance and striking capabilities over the Indian Ocean, and the two new minesweepers will boost the India's coastal operational capabilities, an Indian navy official said.
The P-8I is a new type of long-range reconnaissance plane with the functions of fatal anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare by carrying torpedoes, depth bombs and missiles.
Osprey-class coastal minesweepers are capable of using advanced sonar and other systems to find, classify and neutralize many types of mines in coastal areas. They are stealth ships with exceptionally low magnetic and acoustic signatures.
As the relation between the Indian and U.S. Navies develops in recent years, the Indian Navy is acquiring more and more U.S. weapons. In January 2007, the Indian navy procured the U.S. newly- decommissioned large amphibious ship Trenton with a full displacement of 17,000 tons at a cost of only 48 million U.S. dollars, and the ship becomes the second largest warship of the Indian Navy. |
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