Airplane maker Boeing Co. (BA) said Tuesday that it has been selected by the Indian government to provide eight P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft for the Indian navy. The company noted that India is the first international customer for the P-8. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, media reports indicated the deal to be worth $2.1 billion.
The P-8I is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing is developing for the U.S. Navy. The first of the aircraft will be delivered by the company within 48 months of the contract signing, and the remaining seven airplanes will be delivered by 2015.
Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, or IDS, said, "The men and women of The Boeing Company are pleased that India has selected the P-8I. This aircraft will provide outstanding capabilities tailored to India's unique maritime-patrol requirements."
The Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing noted that the P-8I is a true multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft, or MPA, that features greater flexibility and a broader range of capabilities than MPAs currently in service. The aircraft features an open system architecture, advanced sensor and display technologies, and a worldwide base of suppliers, parts and support equipment, the company said.
The P-8 is a military version of the Boeing 737 commercial aircraft. In 2004, the U.S. Navy chose Boeing to build 108 of the P-8s, with initial operational capability slated for 2013.
The Boeing P-8Is will replace the Indian Navy's ageing Russian-built Tupolev-142M turboprop patrol aircraft. The deal mark's India's biggest military aircraft deal with the U.S., and comes less than a year after India signed an agreement worth $962 million with Boeing's rival Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) for the purchase of six C-130 Hercules transport aircraft for the Indian Army.
The P-8I are expected to help India in plugging the existing gaps in the Indian navy's maritime capabilities as the aircraft have an operating range of over 600 nautical miles. The absence of effective maritime reconnaissance was cited as one reason for the ease with which the Mumbai terrorist attacks were mounted in November 2008. India has a 7,600 kilometer coastline.
Boeing is also vying with other companies for supplying 126 fighter jets to the Indian Air Force in a deal worth $12 billion. The other companies in the fray include Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-16, a European consortium led by EADS, Russia's Mikoyan Design Bureau and France's Dassault. In July 2008, Boeing said it would bid for defense projects in India worth up to $20 billion over the next ten years.
Boeing, which started a wholly owned unit, Boeing International Corp. India Pvt. Ltd. in December 2003, established its relationship with India more than 60 years ago by working with airline customers, parts suppliers, research institutes and others to provide products and services. In 1962, Indian carrier Air India earned the distinction of being the world's first all-jet airline with its fleet of Boeing 707s.
Boeing's relationship with India has strengthened in recent years. Since the start of India's budget airline travel boom in 2004, India-based carriers have ordered 164 jetliners from Boeing. In December 2005, Air India ordered 68 airplanes from Boeing valued at more than $11 billion at list prices, the biggest-ever civil aviation order in India's history and the largest aviation-industry order in terms of price in that year.
In February last year, Boeing said it agreed to form a joint-venture with Indian business conglomerate Tata Industries Ltd. to build aerospace components.
In Tuesday's regular trading session, BA is trading at $46.49, up $0.32 or 0.69% on a volume of 0.52 million shares. The stock has been trading in a range of $36.17-$88.29 in the past 52 weeks.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.