The special aircraft will only be used by President Ram Nath Kovind, vice president M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The second Boeing-777 VVIP aircraft with missile defence systems, which will serve on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Air India One’ fleet, landed in Delhi on Saturday. The first modified Boeing 777 aircraft had arrived in India earlier in October.

The special aircraft will only be used by President Ram Nath Kovind, vice president M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aircraft was scheduled to be delivered more than a month ago but it was delayed due to operational issues.

Earlier in August, the Centre had sent a team of senior government officials, officers from Indian Air Force (IAF) and Air India to the United States for the assessment of the technical requirements and accepting the delivery of the two VVIP aircraft. Air India had sent the two long-haul Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to a Boeing facility in Dallas to be modified for VVIP travel.

Air India One, which is the call sign of any aircraft with the Prime Minister or President on board, has its own missile defence system called the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) and Self-Protection Suites (SPS), which is capable of countering missile threats from an enemy. These defence systems are capable of diverting heat-seeking missiles by disturbing their guidance systems and jamming enemy radar.

The Boeing 777 aircraft, which is on par with the US President’s Air Force One in terms of security measures, will be operated by Indian Air Force pilots.