Islamabad: Two P3C Orion maritime
surveillance aircraft modified with US assistance were
inducted into the Pakistan Navy`s aviation fleet on Monday.
The aircraft, modified with modern avionics and sensors
with US assistance being provided under the Foreign Military
Funding programme, were inducted during a ceremony at a naval
airbase in Karachi.
The Pakistan Navy is set to receive a total of six such
aircraft from the US in batches of two each. The first batch
was inducted into the navy in 2010, a naval statement said.
The modified aircraft have "extended surveillance
capability", which will help the navy maintain vigil in its
"vital area of interest in the north Arabian Sea", the
statement said.
The area is regarded as an important trade and energy
corridor for the global economy and is home to "intense
maritime activity, both legal and illegal, and thus warrants
continuous guard", the statement said.
Two P3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft were
destroyed and 10 security personnel were killed when a group
of heavily armed terrorists stormed a naval airbase in Karachi
in May last year.
PTI
