India’s navy said it inducted the first of eight P-8I maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft it had ordered from Boeing this week. The twin-engined jet is based on Boeing’s popular 737NG airliner.
India, the world’s top defense-equipment importer, had ordered the planes in January 2009 for about $2.1 billion. The order is among several defense contracts India signed in recent years as part of the country’s efforts to upgrade its mainly Soviet-vintage weaponry to catch up with neighbors China and Pakistan which are also upgrading their defense equipment.
The country also ordered 10 C-17 Globemasters, the biggest military-transport plane, from Boeing and purchased the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft from Lockheed Martin. India also is buying 145 towed artillery guns from the U.S. unit of U.K.-based BAE Systems.
For the complete story by Anirban Chowdhury of The Wall Street Journal, click here.
Photo by Boeing
