Guys will this heavy lift capability offer India a strategic advantage over the dangerous nations that surround India? And is India planning to invest in more heavy lift aircraft?
C130s are medium class transporters not heavy, but the lift capability will be increased as Jha mentioned and that is obvious even by the paper specs:
HS 748 around 5t payload => will be replaced by C295 or C27J with around 9 to 11t payload
AN 32 around 7.5t payload => will be replaced by C130/MTA with around 20t payload
IL 76 around 45t payload => will be replaced by C17 with around 77t payload
But the more important point is capability increase, especially operating these aircrafts in the northern regions at unpaved or short airstrips could be important and an advantage against potential threats.
It's good that India is buying from the USA they are experts in tactical and strategic deployment, I know that both armed forces admire and respect each other and like working together, I can see this relationship is only getting stronger?
What are the views of Indian posters on this?
"Buying", that's the important point that we have to keep in mind when we talk about procurement from the US, because we remain as a normal buyer for them. On the other side, Russians, Europeans or other western countries offer the advantage of ToT and licence production in India, JVs or even co-developments. All this with less restrictions and way more benefit for the Indian industry. That's why "buying" from the US is good in certain fields, were we either have no other option, or where their products offer a clear capability advantage (M777, Apache, C130J, C17, P8I). Adding these in limited numbers, next to indigenous, Russian or European arms and techs in higher numbers is the best option for Indian forces to increase the defence capabilitiy.