NEW DELHI: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)

on Monday said that he came to know about the capabilities of Indian

's

after they were deployed in

during the 73-day-long stand-off with China in 2017.

General Bipin Rawat, who was Army Chief at that time, said: "I came to know about the capabilities of the P-8I anti-submarine warfare planes after they were deployed in Doklam for surveillance."

The P-8I aircraft is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft that Boeing developed as a replacement for the US Navy's ageing P-3 fleet. Indian Navy became the first international customer for the P-8 aircraft with the conclusion of the nearly $2.1 billion contract on January 1, 2009 for eight aircraft.

"The P-8I aircraft were the most potent platform to carry out surveillance — be it sea or mountains. The aircraft were live-streaming data to support decision making during the Doklam face-off," said defence expert Capt D K Sharma (retd).

The P-8Is were also deployed to keep an eye on movement of Pakistani troops after the Pulwama terror attack last year.

Sharma said deployment of the P-8Is signified synergy among the Army and the Navy in dealing with the major crisis.

The P-8I aircraft is equipped for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of the broad area, maritime and littoral operations. Its communication and sensor suite includes indigenous equipment developed by defence PSUs and private manufacturers.

With its high speed and high endurance of about 10 hours, the aircraft is capable of thrusting a punitive response and maintaining a watch over India's immediate and extended areas of interest.

The P-8I aircraft are based at INS Rajali and are operated by Indian Naval Air Squadron 312A.

The first P-8I aircraft was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2013 and, at present, it has a fleet of eight P-8Is.

In 2016, the defence ministry had placed a follow-on order for four additional P-8I, the delivery of which will begin by April 2020.

Last year, the government cleared procurement of another batch of six P-8Is.