The Indian Navy is keen on acquiring six more Boeing P-8I Poseidon aircraft at the earliest, sources told Chakra News. The deal has been pending since April 2021 when the US Department of Defense (DoD) cleared the sale of six P-8Is and related equipment to India at an estimated cost of $2.42 billion. 

Prospects of the deal have brightened after the India-US trade deal was concluded on February 2. If it comes through this year, the P-8I will be the biggest deal between India and the US during Trump’s second term.

The Union budget announced on February 1 allocated 21.84 % more to the capital expenditure— for buying new fighter jets, warships and submarines.
Last year, the price of the six Poseidons increased by 50 per cent owning to supply chain costs and they are now believed to cost close to $4 billion. The price hike and the friction with the Trump administration over tariffs, led to the pause in the P-8I procurement. 

Last September, US Department of Defence and Boeing officials visited India for detailed discussions on the additional P-8I aircraft made to the Indian government. 
The US delegation included officials from the Undersecretary of Defense for policy, the Navy International Programs Office (NIPO), the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft Program Office (PMA 290), and the DSCA. 

The Indian Navy operates 12 P-8I aircraft ordered in two batches, with the first batch of eight aircraft ordered in 2009 and four more were ordered in 2016. These are operational with the Indian Navy’s INAS (Indian Naval Air Squadron) 312 ‘Albatross’ at Rajali and INAS 316 ‘Condors’ at INS Hansa, Goa.

The Boeing P-8I aircraft is a multi-role Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare (LRMR ASW) aircraft. It is based on the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, also known as 737 NG (Next Generation). P-8 aircraft can carry Mk-54 lightweight torpedo and AGM-84 Harpoon missiles along with the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Air LORA missile. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2023, India’s Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) plans to manufacture LORA locally, potentially for all three branches of the Indian Armed Forces.

In January 2008, Boeing proposed the P-8I, a customised export variant of the P-8A, for the Indian Navy and in 2009 India ordered eight P-8I aircraft worth US$2.1 billion. On 19 December 2012, the first P-8I was handed over to an Indian naval team at Boeing's facility. In 2011, India planned to order twelve more P-8Is at a later date; in 2019, this was cut to eight to ten due to a limited budget. On 28 November 2019, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of six additional P-8Is.  By 27 July 2020, reports revealed that the Indian Ministry of Defence had sent a Letter of Request (LoR) to the US Government for the procurement at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion. The LoR was forwarded to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), and the proposal featured in a notice by the agency under the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. 

The related equipment for the six aircraft includes eight Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Joint Tactical Radio Systems 5 (MIDS-JTRS 5) (6 installed, 2 spares); forty-two AN/AAR-54 Missile Warning Sensors (36 installed, 6 spares); and fourteen LN-251 with Embedded Global Positioning Systems (GPS)/Inertial Navigation Systems (EGIs) (12 installed, 2 spares).

Arjun Dev Singh

Arjun Dev Singh has a deep interest in defence, security, and strategic affairs. With a strong analytical lens and a passion for military and geopolitical developments, Arjun strives to bring clarity and context to complex national and international issues.