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India Defence Online, New Delhi — The Indian navy will receive a major fillip in its maritime reconnaissance capabilities since the Indian Defence Ministry has cleared the purchase of four long-range surveillance aircraft and four big amphibious assault warships.
The entire project has been cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council and the naval projects consisting of the acquisition of warships and surveillance aircraft will amount to the tune of over $4 billion. The four new aircraft will be the P-8I Poseidon long-range maritime patrol aircraft besides the four amphibious warfare ships called Landing Platform Docks (LPDs).
The acquisition of P-81 surveillance aircraft will enable the Indian Navy to monitor the Indian Ocean region besides augmenting its anti-warship and anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The P-81 aircraft will be armed with torpedoes, depth bombs and Harpoon missiles besides long-range radars and sensors.
As for the amphibious warships or LPDs, it will enable the Indian Navy to transport infantry battalions and their equipment to long distances besides helping in disaster management and other relief operations. The project to build LPDs will fall under the “Buy and Make” category of the Defence Procurement Procedure. The “Buy and Make” procedure involves a licensed indigenous manufacture in collaboration with a foreign manufacturer. The LPD project alone will cost around $3 billion and two of the amphibious ships are expected to be built at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Vishakapatnam.
The Indian Navy has been working on building LPDs indigenously and worked on designs earlier to add more sheen to its amphibious warfare and strategic capabilities. LPDs provide the Indian Navy with strategic reach to operate far away from Indian shores and support amphibious warfare as well as carry out relief operations. India already owns INS Jalashwa which was commissioned in its Navy in June 2007. It is also the first LPD in the Indian Navy service. INS Jalashwa is a replenishment and amphibious warfare ship with capacity to embark, transport and land a 1,000-men battalion along with equipment and tanks to support operations on enemy shores. INS Jalashwa also carries four mechanised landing craft and eight landing assault craft which could be launched by flooding the ship’s well deck, a highlight and advantage of the LPDs.
Indian defence news and strategic intelligence
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