Seattle: Several Indian companies are likely to be involved in building American aerospace giant Boeing's long-range anti-submarine warfare Aircraft for which the Indian Navy has issued a request for proposal (RFP).

The Boeing company, which is in discussions with Indian Navy for over two years in connection with the P-8I submarine hunter aircraft, said the Indian companies would play a role in equipping the aircraft with sensors and communication systems.

"There is a possibility of Indian companies being involved in building the P-8I," said Richard Buck, programme manager of Boeing's defence wing, Integrated Defence Systems.

The plane that IDS proposes to sell to Indian Navy is a variant of a 737 commercial aircraft, which shall have a bomb bay for torpedoes and launching tubes for sonar listening buoys and which could fly low and slow over the ocean, searching for enemy vessels on or under the surface.

"The Indian Navy is very exact about the capability the plane brings to them in future," he said about his interaction with a team that visited Boeing's facility in connection with the RFP issued in December 2005 for building the submarine hunter aircraft at a cost of about Rs two billion.

Source : PTI