"The Indian government has agreed to buy eight long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from Boeing, its largest acquisition of military hardware from the US, its cold war adversary.
New Delhi's $2.1bn (€1.5bn, £1.4bn) purchase of the P-8I Poseidon aircraft highlights India's rapidly deepening defence ties with the US, a process facilitated by a civil nuclear deal last year that buried the biggest bone of contention between the two countries.
The urgent need for India to enhance its maritime security was exposed during the November terror assault on Mumbai, which was mounted by attackers who commandeered a small fishing boat and landed on the waterfront in the heart of India's financial capital.
Boeing is vying with five other companies - including Lockheed Martin of the US, France's Dassault, a European consortium led by EADS, and Russia's Mikoyan Design Bureau - to supply 126 fighter jets in a $10bn deal that would modernise India's decrepit Soviet-era strike force.
The Boeing P-8Is, which will replace 25-year-old patrol aircraft, have the capacity to detect submarines moving deep into India's territorial waters and also possess advanced missile systems that could be used to destroy them. The first aircraft are to be delivered in four years and Indian defence analysts said the country might acquire up to 20." La suite.
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