The Indian Navy will soon float a long-delayed global tender for maritime reconnaissance aircraft (MRA), a top military commander said Monday.
The navy is also in talks with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for developing a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to enhance its maritime surveillance capabilities, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said.
'We have completed our evaluations of various long range maritime patrol aircraft and a request for proposals (RFPs) should go out very soon,' Mehta told reporters here ahead of the annual Navy Week celebrations from Tuesday.
The navy needs the aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of eight Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-42s that are on the verge of completing their service life.
A four-member Indian Navy team headed by a one-star officer had observed trials in July on MRA derivatives of the Airbus A-319 manufactured by EADS Spain and the Boeing P-8A Poseidon in the US.
Since neither of MRA derivatives exists, the flight trials involved simulations on the Airbus A-320 and the Boeing-737 platforms on representative flight profiles and mission system evaluations.
Boeing has offered India a customised version of the P-8A that is scheduled to fly in late 2009 with operational capability set for 2013. The Spanish platform too is expected to be ready around the same time.
Both manufacturers are seriously examining the possibility of partnering Indian companies to jointly develop communications, data-link and identification friend-or-foe (IFF) equipment as an added sales incentive, in keeping with New Delhi's policy of indigenising its defence requirements, officials said.
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