India exercises option for six more Hercules transport aircraft

[axisofevil]

What is the meaning of expoding their atomic bomb, are they ready to give them in case of nuclear comflict. You dont blame Neharu even in todays world US is not reliable friend

I do blame Nehru for every f-ked up thing he did. The guy was a royal idiot.


You cannto expect a reliable friendship unless you show such qualities. It will take time and it will require all players to make the effort to bring it to fruit. As for the the nuke issue, I don't know. China is known to give expertise on everything from nukes to missiles for Pakistan. Strategic circumstances dictate when and what. I am more concerned by secret treaties ......it is very easy to overlook clauses that allow for China to step in the event of war when the situation has turned to India's favor. An example of this was during 1971 when Indira Gandhi asked Russia to step in case China/US/UK took to war. This was due to a secret clause in the 1970 treaty between Indian and Russia

 

[indoPunjabi]

Looks unlikely right now as it would've made sense (if they planned to do so) to get 7 units in this follow on order but the number remained at 6.


24 C-130J-30s is a bit much as the IAF only uses them in SF missions, having an extra 12 would not be all that useful. If the IAF wants to get more for regular transport missions then they will need to go for an additional 20-30 C-130Js.

The IAF is almost certain to exercise its option for 6 more C-17s to bring the total fleet to 16, anything above this is unlikely sadly mostly because the C-17 production line is coming to an end and I can't see the IAF ordering 10 more (the ideal number of C-17s is 20-22 for the IAF IMHO) or 4 more units on top of the 6 follow-on units likely to be ordered. The timing will seem to scupper any chances of an IAF C-17 fleet above 16 unfortunately...

Regardless of IAF doctrine...
In the end of the day they're big cargo planes. We can use them to transport troops, equipment, tanks, howitzers etc. 48 aircrafts can never be enough for a country as big as India.

We can also use these aircrafts for relief missions in India and abroad.

 

[Koovie]

Yup just to meet the requirement between 2014-2020 post 2020 you will have your own aircraft ready so its a very bad move.

If Indian government is too concerned with its aircraft then why not to replace ageing fleet of MIg with the same Dollar which you spend on impressing USA.

BS,
1.) MTA is years away from being inducted

2.) The C 130Js are there to fill another niche. While the MTA`s will replace An 32s.

 

[NEPALESE GURKHA]

A

BS,
1.) MTA is years away from being inducted

2.) The C 130Js are there to fill another niche. While the MTA`s will replace An 32s.

According to websites MTA is on schedule to be completed late 2018.
As far as specification is provided it is similar to cj-130 which means it can be used for both transportation of troops and goods so how it is different from CJ-130 ?

 

[Koovie]

A

According to websites MTA is on schedule to be completed late 2018.
As far as specification is provided it is similar to cj-130 which means it can be used for both transportation of troops and goods so how it is different from CJ-130 ?

The C 130J in the IAF are for special mission, for flying commandos behind enemy lines for example.

The MTA is meant to be a "regular" medium weight transport aircraft to replace the AN 32s.

And dont believe such dates.

They havent even begun building the prototype. And this project is neither a priority for HAL nor Ilyushin

 

[Killswitch]

Shouldn't an extra C130J be ordered to replace the lost aircraft?

 

[sancho]

What is the IAF thinking!

Why are they so highly prioritizing the Transport fleet?
They have practically doubled their airlift capacity in the last 3 years and they are still prioritizing it!

I don't think they are prioritizing, but that there are a lot of other factors that plays a role. The special ops aircraft for example were considered years before 26/11, but got an obvious push after it. The C17 has a big political factor behind it, that's why it's the only procurement that was not pushed in a competition first and the Avro replacement is pending for years too. The fact that we now order a 2nd squad of C130 as an add on, or that the new MoD follows the way of the old MoD on Avro replacement production via private partners is not a a show of prioritization. Not to mention that the C130 or the the C17 aircrafts are not build in India, which makes deliveries far simpler and faster too.

On the other hand, the tanker competition had a lot of politics in it too, where MoD desperately tried to get Boeing into the competition too, most likely to increase the options and to gain more leverage in negotiations, but that didn't worked out and finally FM played a role in delaying the deal too.
AWACS mainly is delayed because of the promises made by DRDO to deliver an indigenous AWACS. That hope and probably a veto capability of DRDO, HAL..., that give priority to them, if they "say" they can developt and deliver a similar product to the needs of the forces, put additional A50 procurements with lower importance, as stupid as it is.