India To Get 4 Additional Boeing P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft

The Indian Navy has decided To Buy 4 additional Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft to boost its maritime patrol capabilities as well as counter piracy threats and to Counter the growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.

In a deal expected to range between $1 billion to $1.5 billion, the new aircraft will be in addition to the eight the Navy had ordered in January 2009, for about $2.1 billion. The new contract price is also expected to include the cost of aero-structures and avionics.

“The Indian Navy has received the necessary government approvals and has decided to go ahead with the contractual processes to acquire four additional P-8I aircraft under the options clause,” Commander PVS Satish, public relations officer for the Indian Navy Said.

According to sources, Boeing has already submitted its draft offset contract to the defence ministry last week. “The government is considering exercising the option of adding four P-8I aircraft,” Dr Vivek Lall, vice-president, Boeing Defence, Space & Security told ET. The P-8I, which is based on the Boeing next-generation 737 commercial airplane, is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that the defence vendor Boeing is developing for the US Navy. India is the first international customer for the P-8 platform.

The first of the eight P-8I aircraft, which were bought through the direct commercial sales route with Boeing, are expected to be delivered to India within 48 months of the original contract signing. The aircraft are of supreme strategic importance for India’s naval forces, with the country looking to enhance its role in the high seas.

Further, the global community has been clamouring for India to play a more dominant policing role against sea piracy in the Straits of Malacca, which is one of the busiest commercial and military sea-routes in the world, and along the East African coast.

Also, in the ongoing scramble for sea power in the world’s thirdlargest ocean, India has been desperate to stop what it perceives as a growing Chinese hegemony in the region. Separately, Boeing has also submitted a reply to the Navy’s Request for Information for six medium-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft as well.

However, ministry sources did not confirm whether any of the other global defence vendors had responded to the same.
Others expected to be in the running for the contract include Russia’s Ilyushin, France’s Dassault and EADS . Like most defence deals pursued in India, the acquisition of the MRMR aircraft has followed a long and tortuous route. With the original global Request for Procurement issued in 2008, before the Mumbai attacks, the same was later scrapped by the defence ministry on certain technical grounds.

The current RFI also specifies the aircraft should be able to carry out electronic intelligence gathering and counter-measures, besides maritime patrol and search and rescue within an operational envelope of 350 nautical miles or almost 650 kilometres, as well as a patrol endurance of at least three and a half hours.

There are additional requirements that the aircraft be capable of carrying at least two anti-ship missiles and a jamming pod. As with the P-8I, the navy has specified in the RFI that certain pieces of equipment must be indigenous, like Identification Friend or Foe Interrogator with Secure Mode, MSS Terminal, BFE, Datalink and Speech Secrecy Equipment and vendors must indicate their commitment to integrate this equipment into the aircraft.

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Mossad & CIA Committed 9-11: Italian President Francesco Cossiga

Source: http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=114778 Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy’s oldest and most widely read newspaper that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was common knowledge among global intelligence agencies. The evidence that Mossad planned 911 using Arab patsies is overwhelming; Mossad were caught filming the attack from Liberty Park and then later said on Israeli TV that they were sent there to document (they along with nearly 200 Mossad were rounded up and sent back to Israeli in the weeks following the attack, preventing the FBI from questioning them). Only 5 Israeli's died in the WTC attack; 3 on the airplanes and 2 in the buildings. It is a fact unexplainable by Zionists apologists that Idigo, and Israeli messaging service sent a warning in Hebrew worldwide that a terror attack would happen in a few hours on the da

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

ASIAN DEFENCE

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