Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flew a sortie in the P-8I anti-submarine warfare aircraft of the Indian Navy

Defence minister Rajnath Singh undertook a sortie in the Indian Navy’s P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft during his visit to Mumbai. The flight crew for the sortie comprised two pilots and seven naval air operations officers.


The defence minister flew the sortie on Tuesday hours after he launched two frontline warships of the Indian Navy at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

The Indian Navy also demonstrated electronic warfare, imagery intelligence, long range surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue capabilities employing state-of-the-art mission suite and sensors before the minister.

The induction of the P-8I aircraft in 2013 has significantly enhanced the Indian Navy's persistent surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The P-8I aircraft with its superior maritime surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and operational readiness has proven to be an important asset to the Navy. The Indian Navy was the first international customer for the P-8 aircraft, which is produced by US aerospace major Boeing.