ANKARA

The Indian Navy will receive four more anti-submarine warfare aircraft from the United States starting May, local media reported Wednesday.

The country already has eight P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance anti-submarine warfare aircraft, which were procured in 2009.

“These aircraft will also be in the same configuration as the earlier eight aircraft. Plans are on to install encrypted communication systems on the earlier ones,” Indian daily The Hindu quoted sources as saying.

The procurement process will be completed by 2022 at a cost of $1 billion.

The arrangement is part of the bilateral Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) signed in September 2018.

India was the first international customer of the P-81 aircraft following a $2.2 billion deal over a decade ago. The aircraft are deployed in India’s southern Tamil Nadu province.

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines.

Both India and U.S. are also cooperating in encrypted communications between their navies after the two countries signed a loan agreement in March 2019, and installed two Pacific-fleet-provided CENTRIXS (Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System) kits at the Indian Navy headquarters.

The U.S.-India partnership has shared interests, including security, trade, and connectivity.

Last month, they inked three MoUs including a $3 billion defense deal during U.S. President Donald Trump's much-hyped maiden visit to India.