US defence team heads to India for $3-bn surveillance plane deal

In what is being seen as an icebreaker in the India-US military trade ties, a team from Washington is headed to New Delhi to conduct a discussion on the sale of six additional surveillance planes.

The US team was expected in a week, sources said. Since the deal is through the ‘foreign military sales’ route, the team would have government officials.

India is seeking six additional Boeing P8I long-range maritime surveillance planes. The Navy already has 12 of these planes in its fleet. These were used extensively during Operation Sindoor with Pakistan (May 7-10). Also during the military stand-off in Eastern Ladakh, the planes were often over the Himalayas keeping an eye on Chinese military movement across the Line of Actual Control (LAC)

The US government, in May 2021, approved the sale of six additional Boeing P-8I aircraft for an estimated $2.42 billion under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. The sale was requested by India. All price offers in military sales have timelines and this one expired. A fresh quote is expected.

India expects a reasonable offer to go ahead. The Indian Navy’s fleet of P-8I aircraft comes with high resolution sensors and camera that not just provide a live feed to ground stations, they also track submarines. The planes carry Harpoon anti-submarine missiles which can fire at enemy subs. India got these planes in two tranches of eight and four planes in 2009 and 2016, respectively.

After US President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs and penalties on India, the military sales were on a back-burner. New Delhi was not rushing to okay anything from the US, until tempers cooled down. Over the past 24 hours, the tone of Trump’s social media posts has been conciliatory saying the stalled trade negotiations would start with India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has responded back with positivity.

The Boeing P8I deal was officially confirmed during Modi-Trump’s February meeting. A joint statement mentioned the deal for six P-8I maritime patrol aircraft is nearing completion, with terms agreed upon.

In 2023, when the sale offer was being discussed, Boeing had unveiled a plan that would increase investments, approximately to $1.5 billion, while creating further indigenisation opportunities within India’s aerospace and defence sector by 2032.

Boeing had outlined its plan for enhancing engineering, manufacturing, and sustainment capabilities of the P-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft in India, eyeing an additional order of six planes.