IAF's new C-17 flies non-stop to Andamans to supply Army equipment

[thestringshredder]

NEW DELHI: The big bird has taken to the skies. In its first operational deployment since it touched down in India on June 18, IAF's new gigantic C-17 Globemaster-III aircraft has transported equipment for an entire infantry battalion to the country's last military outpost in the strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

"Climbing to an altitude of 28,000-feet, with an unrefueled range of 2,400 nautical miles, the aircraft flew from the Hindon airbase, on the outskirts of New Delhi, to Port Blair with support equipment towards rotational movement of infantry battalions at the A&I Islands," said an IAF officer.

India had ordered 10 C-17 aircraft for $4.1 billion in mid-2011 under the largest defence deal inked with the US till now. While the first one arrived on June 18, two more are slated to land at Hindon this month. All 10 will be in place by June 2015.

The aircraft will give India genuine strategic airlift capabilities for the first time since they can transport heavy armoured vehicles, howitzers and combat troops to distant battlefronts or hotspots at the double. With a cargo weight of 70 tonne, the C-17s can take off, fly a distance of 4,200-km and land in a runway of just about 3,500-feet in length. With half the load, they can go more than double the distance.

Capable as they are of landing on forward makeshift runways with short turnaround times, the rugged C-17s are central to the swift power-projection capabilities being slowly acquired by India to counter China's massive build-up of military infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which includes at least five fully-operational airbases, an extensive rail network and over 58,000-km of roads in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

The giant four-engine C-17s, with a wing span of 170 feet, also dovetail neatly into the Army's endeavour to raise a new mountain strike corps (around 40,000 soldiers), apart from two "independent" infantry brigades and two "independent" armoured brigades, to plug operational gaps as well as to acquire "some ground offensive capabilities" against China.

The C-17s join the six C-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft, much smaller than the former but equally adept at landing at austere airstrips, already based at Hindon for the last couple of years. India is negotiating the acquisition of another six C-130Js, after inducting the first six for $1.2 billion, which will be based at Panagarh in West Bengal. The Army's new mountain strike corps will also have its headquarters in Panagarh.

Link - IAF's new C-17 flies non-stop to Andamans to supply Army equipment - The Times of India