India has another US$3.1 billion in arms. The unit price of 6 anti-submarine aircraft is far more than the F35. What is it for?

The unit price of the US military's own purchase of P8A is about 150 million US dollars, but the P8I for export is sold for 250 to 300 million US dollars, which undoubtedly makes a lot of money. India spent a lot of money and bought a reduced version, but it was enough for its own use. Of course, it's the same sentence mentioned earlier. In the end, India's military trade will not be settled until it is paid and delivered, otherwise there will always be variables.

Boeing, Ilyushin, Tupolev, collect and control benefits...

India’s military purchases are now becoming more and more diverse. In addition to purchasing traditional weapons and equipment from Russia, it also purchases advanced fighter jets and some subsystems from Europe, and purchases transport aircraft, special aircraft and helicopters from the United States.

Because of the high value of weapons and equipment in the United States and Europe, the total amount of their orders is often sighing that India is "really rich."

According to a report on the AirRecognition website on December 2, the Indian Ministry of Defense approved the purchase of six Boeing P8I anti-submarine patrol aircraft, early warning aircraft and other military platforms last Thursday, with a total value of up to 3.1 billion US dollars.

Of course, one thing we must explain in advance is that it is very common for Indians to go back. The approved contract only agrees to purchase in principle. Whether it can be implemented depends on the signing and implementation of the detailed contract between India and the United States.

Only when the money is paid in one hand and the goods are delivered in one hand, it will be considered as final.

However, the Indian Army’s procurement contract can reach the point where it is approved by the Ministry of National Defense, which is very close to the final implementation. From an objective demand, the Indian Army does need these weapons and equipment.

Since the P8I was mentioned separately in the report, we might as well have a talk about this weapon.

The P8I is the Indian version of the P8 patrol aircraft, and the American version is called the P8A.

We know that the U.S. military’s special aircraft is very powerful. In previous news reports, there were many news reports that it used P3C anti-submarine patrol aircraft to harass the airspace of other countries. In recent years, its weapons have been updated and replaced with P8A. .

The aircraft is developed on the basis of Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft, and its cruise efficiency is 25% to 30% higher than that of the P3 patrol aircraft. Due to its larger internal space, the aircraft is loaded with more equipment and weapons. The working environment of the on-duty personnel has also improved a lot compared with the previous generation, and the sustainable combat capability is stronger.

The P8A has 5 built-in and 6 external weapon attachment points, which can carry weapons such as harpoon anti-ship missiles, MK54 torpedoes, depth charges, or up to 100 sonar buoys.

When performing reconnaissance and search missions, the P8A uses its advanced detection equipment, and its capabilities are also very powerful. It can even be said to be the best performance among similar weapons in the world.

India’s choice of this weapon is actually very discerning, and of course it is also a remedy after embarrassment.

In 2008, terrorists launched an attack on Mumbai, India. The poor response of the Indian military and police resulted in huge casualties, which greatly reduced India’s international image.

This group of militants penetrated into India through the sea. Afterwards, India’s weak maritime defense capabilities were widely criticized by the public.

Since there is a shortage of ships and airplanes, buy them!

Therefore, the first P8I order was finalized under this background-8 P8I anti-submarine aircraft were purchased at a high price of 2.1 billion US dollars. The order was placed in 2009. At that time, the P8A used by the US military was not yet in service, which shows that India is pursuing advanced technology. How high is his determination.

Although the performance of the export version of the weapon is much worse than that of the US military for its own use, it is generally acceptable. Relying on these 8 P8Is, the Indian Navy has obtained the capabilities of large-scale search, reconnaissance and anti-submarine in the Indian Ocean.

In fact, this kind of aircraft is probably just an excuse to deal with small groups of militants. After all, a few militants pretending to be fishermen infiltrated the coast of India, and several patrol planes could not detect this.

It's just that because of the terrorist attack, the entire Indian people called for strengthening maritime defense, so the navy took the opportunity to take this hugely expensive order, allowing it to have long-range patrol and security capabilities.

The main business of P8I is still anti-submarine and search and surveillance missions. It is used to deal with the increasing number of foreign warships in the Indian Ocean. A few thieves are not worthy of such a move.

In 2015, all eight P8Is in India arrived.

In 2016, India, which found it useful, purchased four more P8Is at a price of 1 billion U.S. dollars. It is estimated that these fighters have arrived or will soon be delivered.

Because the P8I has not crashed in the first place, it is a certainty that the Indian Navy has 12 P8Is, which can basically meet the usual Indian Navy's cruise alert in the North Indian Ocean.

Of course, I'll talk about it in wartime, because the P8I is the foundation of a passenger plane, and it doesn't have much self-defense ability.

So far, the number of flight hours of the Indian P8I fleet has exceeded 25,000 hours. The aircraft was deployed in 2013. These flight hours were mainly consumed by the first fleet. It can be seen that the dispatch rate is still relatively high.

The Indian Ocean is huge, but India has the idea that the Indian Ocean is the Indian Ocean.

However, contrary to expectations, with the launch of the Gulf of Aden escort, the activities of warships of various countries in the Indian Ocean are very frequent.

India naturally cannot prevent the escort operations that the United Nations has approved, but it wants to put the presence of foreign warships in the Indian Ocean under its control.

If this is the case, 12 P8Is are definitely not enough.

As early as the beginning of 2018, Sunil Lamba, Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy, stated:

Air surveillance capabilities are an important part of naval operations. P8I maritime patrol aircraft can make punitive responses and maintain surveillance of India’s direct and expanded areas of interest.

At the same time, the Indian Navy also expressed the idea of ​​purchasing more P8Is. In the predecessor of General Lamba, he believed that India should have 30 P8Is.

By mid-2019, the Times of India announced that the Navy will purchase 10 more P8Is, in addition to procurement contracts for drones and helicopters, the total price may reach 10 billion US dollars.

Now, with the release of new news, the Indian Army finally agreed to purchase 6 P8Is. If the funds are indeed available, it can still be implemented.

However, please note that the annual weapons procurement cost of the Indian Navy is about 3 billion US dollars. If you refer to India’s previous P8I purchase price (about 250 million US dollars), the procurement of 6 P8Is will cost 1.5 billion US dollars;

If the P8I price increases to 300 million US dollars, it will cost 1.8 billion US dollars.

Although the money may not be paid in full within a fiscal year, considering the vast number of Indian naval projects, it will still affect other equipment.

Probably because of these considerations, the final decision to purchase was reduced from 10 to 6 in the middle of the year.

The unit price of the US military's own purchase of P8A is about 150 million US dollars, but the P8I for export is sold for 250 to 300 million US dollars, which undoubtedly will make a lot of money.

India spent a lot of money and bought a reduced version, but it was enough for its own use.

Of course, it's the same sentence mentioned earlier. In the end, India's military trade will not be settled until it is paid and delivered, otherwise there will always be variables.