Quickly offering healthcare support to remote islands that cannot be covered by ships and helicopters
In the case of a disaster, the US-2 transports personnel, relief supplies, etc. to areas that cannot be accessed by land. Should the airport be damaged, the US-2 can land on a nearby sea, lake, river, etc.
The US-2 boasts a long flight range of approx. 4,500 km, making it possible to perform prompt conservation (shore protection work, etc.) of islands far from the mainland, such as Okinotori Island.
Multipurpose Amphibians | Aircraft | ShinMaywa Industries, Ltd.
The US-2 buy is largely strategic in nature , i.e. to symbolise and cement the burgeoning Indo-Japanese relationship? As such it doesn't have to be an ideal match in terms of operational requirements and in the context of other fielded platforms, it just has to be useful in its chief task. Like the dedicated ASW role for P8I. The US-2 does not have the systems & weapons of P-8I. Integrating them would be a major & expensive task. Its chief role is search & rescue.
The two typres have different capabilities & roles. The P-8I can not do SAR, & the US-2 can not do ASW & MR without time & a lot of money being spent on it, & it's a lighter, slower aircraft.
My (limited) understanding of the current position is that Japan is not ready to sell India a US-2 which is either armed, or equipped (as in systems on board) to be armed. Whether India could buy bare aircraft & fit systems & weapons to them I do not know. The current policy seems vague. When it was first announced, Japanese manufacturers of weapons & dual-use equipment complained about the vagueness, but now I suspect it's deliberate. I think the government would like to open the door quite wide, but daren't say so. A vague policy allows it to be very gradually pushed open. But I can't prove it: this is an opinion based on nothing solid.