This squadron has been christened ‘The Condors’, which is one of the largest flying birds in the world. And the insignia depicts a Condor searching over the blue expanse of the sea.
This squadron will be operating the P-81 multi-role long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare (LRMR ASW) aircraft, from the US based Boeing Company. This aircraft is powered by twin jet engines and has the capacity to be equipped with air-to-ship missiles and torpedoes.
The second batch of four additional aircraft which have been acquired to help the navy to detect, destroy, and deter any threat to the country in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) will be operating from here.
Now, the Indian Navy has two squadrons of P-8I – the first batch of 8 aircraft were acquired in 2013 which has completed more than 30,000 flight hours and are now stationed at INS Rajali, Arakkonam.
The aircraft which are joining the INAS 316 are part of the four additional aircraft contract which the Ministry of Defence had awarded in 2016.
This aircraft, as has already been reported in Financial Express Online, is operated by all the QUAD countries, the member countries of AUKUS operating P-8 variant.
