US offers 8 navy planes to India

The United States has offered to sell eight P-3C Orion naval reconnaissance aircraft to India. New Delhi is examining the proposal, chief of the naval staff Admiral Arun Prakash said on Wednesday.

The US has offered to modernise eight old P-3C Orion planes and supply them to India, he told reporters in Bangalore.

"We are examining the offer," the naval chief said. Admiral Prakash said India needs some maritime reconnaissance aircraft as "We lost a few and some have retired.

"So, we are looking out for a replacement. This is one of the candidates." Russia has also offered to sell naval reconnaissance aircraft to India, said the naval chief who earlier inaugurated the 46th annual conference of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine in Bangalore.

Pakistan recently took delivery of eight P-3C Orion patrol aircraft from the US. The planes, worth up to $ 970 million, were provided free of cost.

Orions, manufactured by US defence firm Lockheed Martin, are long-range maritime patrol aircraft with an endurance of 18 hours.