Indian navy agrees to $2.1B deal for Boeing planes

PITTSBURGH: The Indian navy has agreed to buy eight reconnaissance and anti-submarine planes from Boeing Co. in a $2.1 billion deal that signals the developing nation's drive to upgrade its military hardware.

The first of the aircraft, a variant of the P-8A Poseidon under development for the U.S. Navy, will be delivered within four years, and the remaining seven will be delivered by 2015, the defense unit of Chicago-based Boeing said Tuesday.

India will become Boeing's first international customer for the plane, known as the P-8I, which also is capable of performing search-and-rescue, surveillance and targeting missions, according to the company.

As its economic strength has grown, India has emerged as one of the world's largest buyers of military hardware, and global aviation and military equipment makers are seeking a share of defense contracts potentially worth billions of dollars.

In the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, India plans to spend $26 billion (1.05 trillion rupees) on defense, a 10-percent increase from a year earlier.

The planes ``will bring the Indian navy advanced technology that is unmatched in maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and the reach and capability it needs to defend India's vast coastline and maritime waters,'' Vivek Lall, vice president and head of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems unit in India, said in a statement.

In New Delhi, Sitanshu Kar, a spokesman for India's defense ministry, confirmed reports that the deal was worth $2.1 billion.