Bad news for US Navy, P-8A aircraft scrapped after F-35C fighter jet crash… how will US fight China?

The United States Navy is forced to scrap a P-8A aircraft, after an F-35C aircraft was crashed. This has raised serious questions on its preparations. The P-8A Poseidon aircraft crashed shortly after passing beyond the runway in Hawaii, in 2023, leading to the decision of its scrapping. Recently, another Navy F-35C crashed on an Aircraft Carrier in California. Both of the aircrafts are essential and important assets of the US Navy, and are considered to be major pillars of surveillance as well as attacking. Sources from the US Navy have confirmed about the scrapping of the P-8A aircrafts, confirms The War Zone.

The reports mention that the P-8A aircraft was built on the Boeing 737-800 base, is a modern maritime surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft. The accident has led to a plan being devised to scrap the aircraft, as the cost of repairing it was very high. The aeroframe has been badly damaged due to the aircraft being submerged in salt water for about 2 weeks. Hence, it has been officially declared that it will be scrapped after taking out a few components which are in good condition. These components would be used to install in other P-8A aircrafts if and when needed. The task of scrapping has already started, and it is expected to complete by the end of this month.

Has work begun to scrap P-8A aircraft?

On November 20, 2023, the P-8A aircraft landed uncontrollably off the runway of Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay (component of US Marine Corps Base Hawaii). This was caused because of heavy rains and low visibility due to clouds. The plane went in to the seabed, and was left resting on coral and sand in shallow waters of the Bay, about 50 yards from the coast. Later, 2000 gallons of fuel left in the plane was taken out, but the plane remained there for 2 weeks, causing a lot of damage to many components of the aircraft.

Initially, the US Navy wanted to save the plane, but the estimated costs for the same rose to about $1.5 million USD. After several attempts were made to bring the plane into service and the costs constantly rising, the $171 million dollar plane was considered completely destroyed. The maximum range this aircraft offers is about 7,500 km, and can fly for 10 hours straight. This allows it to conduct long-range patrols in areas like the Indian Ocean or the South China Sea.

Apart from this, the aircraft is equipped with modern surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, such as a long-range X-band radar that can identify marine objects hundreds of kilometres away. It is also equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare systems and high-resolution digital electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors.

Does Indian Navy have P-8I aircraft?

India also uses the P-8A aircraft, but the name of the Indian variant is P-8I, where I stands for India. The country has bought 12 P-8I so far and has already placed an order for 6 more. It is used for surveillance in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.

Its most dangerous capability is to track submarines hidden inside the sea. Before Operation Sindoor, P-8I aircrafts were seen flying continuously in the Arabian Sea which led many experts to believe that the Indian Navy was detecting the presence of Chinese submarines in the Arabian Sea.

Considering the US Navy, both the F-35C stealth fighter jet and the P-8A play a very important role in America’s strategic advantage in the Indo-Pacific. But the loss of these aircraft is raising serious questions about the preparedness of the US Navy. Currently, the US Navy has not expressed its desire to buy any new aircraft to replace the crashed P-8A aircraft, but repeated accidents of the F-35C stealth fighter jet have raised questions about the credibility of the world’s most expensive fighter aircraft program. This comes after another F-35C of the Royal British Navy was stranded in Kerala for weeks after breaking down earlier.

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