India Deploys Submarine-Hunting Surveillance Aircraft to Seychelles
(The Diplomat; 22 March 2016) The Indian Navy has dispatched one of its most advanced maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare aircraft, the P-8I Neptune, to Seychelles for aerial surveillance of the island nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), an Indian Ministry of Defense press statement reveals.
The aircraft has been deployed since March 20 in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the governments of India and Seychelles, an archipelago and country in the Indian Ocean, and will continue to conduct surveillance flights until March 23. This is the first time that the Indian Navy has dispatched its most modern maritime patrol aircraft to Seychelles.
Among other things, India is also slated to set up its own coastal radar system in the country. In addition, both countries recently concluded the seventh installment of a joint military exercise aimed to strengthen cooperation between their armed forces in particular in dealing with security threats emerging from the maritime domain.