The Indian Navy currently relies on its fleet of around 15 Dornier 228-101 aircraft and 12 Israeli Searcher Mark II and Heron unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor India’s 7,516 km long coastline, 1,197 islands and a 2.01 square km exclusive economic zone.
Additional patrols and interdiction within and beyond that area are undertaken by its 8 ultra-long-range TU-142 Bear aircraft and its 2 remaining IL-38 May Maritime Surveillance Aircraft upgrades to IL-38SD status. Another 3 upgraded IL-38SDs were expected to enter service by end-2008, but the upgrades have been a flashpoint for controversy due to a May 14/07 report from India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which said that the first 2 upgraded IL-38SDs are missing essential avionics and weapon systems that are “seriously limiting their operational capabilities.”
In February 2006, Flight International reported that India’s navy had also set a March 2007 deadline to receive bids for 16-24 more anti-submarine warfare helicopters; but the manufacturers that were handed the tender (AgustaWestland, Eurocopter, Kamov and Sikorsky) asked for an extension. That request has factored into at least one bid proposal for India’s next generation long-range maritime patrol aircraft.
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