Page 21 - ADT NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2021 Online Magazine

The Seaspray 7500E V2 radar is well-suited Navy’s maritime surveillance and submarine hunter and is a military
to the SeaGuardian mission set, using Active derivative of the Next-Generation 737-800. Designed as a replace-
Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technol- ment for the P-3 Orion, the P-8 is designed to carry weapons both
ogy to detect, track and classify hundreds of under the wing and in a weapons bay, both are firsts for a Boeing
maritime contacts. commercial derivative airplane.

The integration will also include an Open Thailand and Malaysia on the Move [ AIR SYSTEMS ]
Mission Systems (OMS) approach, which The Thai armed forces are an important customer for Airbus
enables the SeaGuardian and its sensor suite Helicopters with the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) operating H135
to offer operational and sustainment flexibility military training helicopters and H225M Caracal (previously known
to end users. The Seaspray 7500E V2 radar as EC725) multirole utility helicopters, while the Royal Thai Navy
uses Leonardo’s patented small target detec- operates lightweight military multi-role H145M helicopters. The
tion capability, allowing it to spot extremely Royal Thai Army first procured eight H125M in 2011 for armed
difficult targets such as submarine periscopes reconnaissance, following which six UH-72 Lakotas were added
and shipwrecked individuals at long range (even two years later through the US’ Foreign Military Sale programme.
in very stormy seas). Leonardo’s E-scan radars Thailand has also received U.S. approval for sale of eight Boeing
also deliver high reliability and fault tolerance, AH-6i light attack reconnaissance helicopters along with AGM-114R
which allows them to retain mission effective- Hellfire missiles, Advance Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)
ness even if several of the radar’s individual and Hydra 70 rockets, M134 mini guns, M260 rocket launchers;
modules have failed. GAU-19/B .50 Cal machine guns. The AH-6i helicopters will replace
the RTA’s aging fleet of seven AH-IF Cobra helicopters and pro-
India Grows P-8I Fleet vide light attack reconnaissance for close air support to special
The Indian Navy recently took delivery of its operations forces, Stryker infantry soldiers and border guard units.
11th P-8I. The most recent delivery was the The RTAF has started taking deliveries of its new H135s which
third of four additional aircraft ordered under an are being used for pilot training, including ab-initio flight training.
options contract s inked with the Indian Ministry
of Defence in 2016. Since the advanced mar-
itime patrol type was first inducted in 2013,
the P-8I fleet has crossed 30,000 flight hours
being extensively used for long-range maritime
reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare
missions, in addition to being deployed to
assist during disaster relief and humanitarian
missions. The Indian Navy was the first interna-
tional customer for the P-8 and today operates
the largest non-U.S. fleet.

Boeing is working to complete construction on
the Training Support & Data Handling (TSDH)
Centre at INS Rajali, Arakkonam, in Tamil Nadu,
and a secondary center at the Naval Institute
of Aeronautical Technology, Kochi, as part of a
training-and-support package contract signed
in 2019. The indigenous, ground-based train-
ing will allow the Indian Navy crew to increase
mission proficiency in a shorter time, while
reducing the on-aircraft training time result-
ing in increased aircraft availability for mission
tasking. India’s growing P-8I fleet is supported
by Boeing, which provides training of Indian
Navy flight crews, spare parts, ground support
equipment and field-service representative
support.

The P-8 is also operated by the U.S. Navy,
the Royal Australian Air Force and the United
Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. The P-8I is a sister
ship to the P-8A, which is the United States

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