Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Mumbai undertook a sortie on an Navy P-8I maritime patrol aircraft and witnessed firsthand its long range surveillance and Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities.
“During the mission, long range surveillance, electronic warfare, imagery intelligence, ASW missions and Search and Rescue capabilities employing the state-of-the-art mission suite and sensors were demonstrated,” the Navy said in a statement on Wednesday. The flight crew for this sortie comprised of two Pilots and seven Naval Air Operations Officers including three women officers, it stated.
The induction of P8I aircraft commencing 2013, have significantly enhanced Indian Navy’s persistent surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the statement noted. The Navy currently operates 12 P-8I aircraft which since induction have completed over 37,000 hours of operational flying.
