EXCLUSIVE: Presence of P-3 Orion in Pakistan Navy irks Indian navy

KARACHI: Presence of Lockheed P-3 Orion in the Pakistan Navy’s Air Arm has been irritating the enemy.

Recently, Indian navy had held air-based anti-submarine warfare exercise in the Indian Ocean with Japan.

Indian navy had conducted the exercises with the view to assess Pakistan’s main anti-submarine aircraft, as reported by the country’s mainstream media house New Delhi TV (NDTV).

The TV reports: “For India, these exercises are particularly significant since it allows the Navy to "assess the performance of the P-3 aircraft which has been used by the Pakistan Navy for decades as its primary anti-submarine platform".

The Indian Navy says the exercises with Japan will help it study the P-3C aircraft also used by Pakistan.

The Pakistan Navy inducted first P-3C into its Air Arm in 1996. The Long Range Maritime Petrol Aircraft (LRMPA) was received from the US. With better sensors and weapons, the P-3Cs had been a challenge for the Indian navy warships and submarines in the Arabian Sea.

Last year, Pakistan Navy had prevented Indian Navy submarines from entering Pakistani territorial waters.

P-3C was the main component of the Navy fleet units that detected the presence of Indian submarines in the southern parts of Pakistani waters.

Defence experts say that Pakistan Navy has been using P-3C for surveillance of the entire region, including its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

It is a land-based, long range anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft, which has the ability to destroy submarines and aircraft.