India has no current plans for additional C-17s

[1nd1a]

India's defence minister has scotched rumours that the country has immediate plans to buy more than 10 Boeing C-17 strategic transports.

"There is presently no proposal for procurement of additional C-17s for the Indian air force," said defence minister A K Antony, in a brief written response to a question in parliament.

Rumours on Indian websites had pointed towards New Delhi ordering an additional six C-17s, with a further purchase beyond this.

On 6 July, India's cabinet confirmed that the nation would buy 10 C-17s for $4.1 billion, the largest ever India-US arms deal.

The deal was long awaited, as India had first expressed interest in the aircraft in 2009, followed by a formal letter of request in early 2010.

The sale of additional C-17s to India would be a major boost for Boeing, which has just 28 C-17s on its order backlog, stretching to mid-2014.

Boeing said that India's C-17s are due to be delivered in the 2013-14 timeframe, but has provided no further details.

The future of C-17 production depends on whether Boeing can scrape together at least 30 additional aircraft orders within the next five years. At that point, the US Air Force may consider alternatives to inducting about 30 more Lockheed C-5As into a reliability enhancement and re-engining programme.


India has no current plans for additional C-17s

 

[acetophenol]

may be our il-76s can stay longer due to their upgrades.

 

[MZUBAIR]

India's contract with Boeing is still pending.............No one knows when India will get them, when they will sign contract, from then the work will take 24 months to handover these AIRLIFTERS.
Suppose if India signs the contract in mid 2012 [Historically its known India takes too much time to sign a contract], then they will be getting in 2014.

NEW DELHI: India on Monday decided to purchase 10 C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift transport aircraft from the U.S. for the Indian Air Force. The deal under the Foreign Military Sales (Government-to-Government) is estimated to cost Rs. 18,000 crore (approximately $4.1 billion).

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Defence Ministry officials said.

The contract, when signed would become the highest single value military contract that New Delhi would enter into with the U.S. and includes an offset obligation of around Rs. 4,500 crore ($ 1 billion). Under the clause, the U.S. company would have to source 30 per cent value of the order from India.


Work on the deal began last April during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to India when it was announced that New Delhi had agreed to buy these aircraft.

In April 2010, the U.S. Defence Security Cooperation Agency informed the U.S. Congress on the possible sale at an estimated cost of $ 5.8 billion. The inventory included 45 engines (40 installed and 5 spare engines), missile warning systems, spares and repair parts, repair and return, flares, other explosives, aircraft ferry and refuelling support, crew armour, mission planning system software, training and training equipment, publications and technical data. The offer from Boeing was for the latest Block 18 aircraft.

The IAF plans to base these heavy lift aircraft at Agra. These can carry 73,616 kg of payload and can be operated by a crew of three-two in the cockpit and one loadmaster.

Delivery of the planes would begin 24 months after signing of the contract. The company produces 15 in a year. Boeing officials had told The Hindu that should India order these planes the schedules with existing customers would be negotiated to accommodate it.


The plane can carry 188 passengers, has reverse thrust engines for short turnaround and equipped with missile warning system with flares to disengage the incoming attack. The IAF conducted trials last year including one in Himachal Pradesh to check its efficacy for short take-off and landing with requisite cargo load.

At present the Russian IL-76 “Gajraj” and AN-32 are the IAF workhorses for transporting men and material. Earlier this year, the IAF inducted tactical lift C130J Super Hercules aircraft from the Lockheed Martin stable.

 

[MZUBAIR]

This is beauty

 

[SpArK]

Good decision.. let them sort out bundled signings of CISMOA, LSA, ANACONDA etc and come up with a better deal to recover the economy and benefit us with that.

 

[proud_indian]

Good decision.. let them sort out bundled signings of CISMOA, LSA, ANACONDA etc and come up with a better deal to recover the economy and benefit us with that.

that was great

 

[Abingdonboy]

I still think 25+ units is a real possibility and that this may be a negation tactic. And anyway this seems to be the way Indian defence procurements work- small initial number to get familiarised and adapted, followed by a larger second order.

 

[Galaxy]

10 is Ok. May be we will buy more later (After Buying some aircraft fighter Rafale/Typhoon) or more MKI/MIG29 to make US also happy.

The Air Force's current fixed-wing transport fleet comprises 40 Russian-made IL-76 and more than 100 AN-32s, which are being upgraded by Ukraine. In addition, the Indian Defence Forces are buying about 800 rotary-wing assets in the next seven years. In July, India signed a $400 million contract with Ukrainian military export agency Ukrspetsexport to upgrade 100 Soviet-built AN-32 cargo aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

 

[sancho]

I still think 25+ units is a real possibility and that this may be a negation tactic. And anyway this seems to be the way Indian defence procurements work- small initial number to get familiarised and adapted, followed by a larger second order.

That would be a good number for our transport fleet, but keep in mind the high costs of the C17, not to forget that there is still no confirmation from Boeing on the $410 millions each, which means it could be even more costly. I still say, a cheaper medium class aircraft like the A 400 in higher numbers would make IAF more effective, than having just a few heavy class transporters.

 

[Tshering22]

I still think 25+ units is a real possibility and that this may be a negation tactic. And anyway this seems to be the way Indian defence procurements work- small initial number to get familiarised and adapted, followed by a larger second order.

The problem is not that,... I think the problem is getting those sensitive communication stuff US-made to be replaced by BEL made indigenous systems. That's possibly what's taking time. We made it clear that we won't by signing anything that binds us as a second rate partner.

 

[Tshering22]

That would be a good number for our transport fleet, but keep in mind the high costs of the C17, not to forget that there is still no confirmation from Boeing on the $410 millions each, which means it could be even more costly. I still say, a cheaper medium class aircraft like the A 400 in higher numbers would make IAF more effective, than having just a few heavy class transporters.

A400M is pretty costly for its capabilities dude. C-130 costs peanuts compared to A400M. Why do you think that Europeans are struggling to find customers outside their partner countries? Because of the killer price tags. If they have to hope for a good sale to anyone other than oil sheikhs, they will need to control their costs rather than getting those rip-off price tags on everything they sell.

 

[sancho]

A400M is pretty costly for its capabilities dude. C-130 costs peanuts compared to A400M. Why do you think that Europeans are struggling to find customers outside their partner countries? Because of the killer price tags. If they have to hope for a good sale to anyone other than oil sheikhs, they will need to control their costs rather than getting those rip-off price tags on everything they sell.

You are mistaken if you believe the A400 is in the same class as C130, or MTA, it's a class above and falls between them and the C17! The size is in fact similar to our IL 76, but the A 400 can do the same roles like the C130 as well as the C17, that's why the RAF will operate all 3 of them:

That also should make clear why the A400 is more expensive than the C130, but cheaper than the C17. For IAF and the size of India, we defenitely needs numbers of these transport aircrafts, that can operate at the same time all over the country, not only a few aircrafts with a lot of payload.

 

[1nd1a]

I think if we are not inducting C-17's in number then at-least we should have 20 - 50 of C-27J Spartans. It was recently inducted for combat mission.

C-27J Spartan makes combat debut in Afghanistan ​

Alenia Aeronautica/L-3 Communications C-27J Spartans, operated by the US Air National Guard (ANG), have commenced combat operations in Afghanistan.

The first combat mission took place on 4 August from Kandahar airfield.

As part of the newly established 702nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS), Air Guard and Army National Guard personnel are jointly operating two C-27Js, which belong to the Ohio ANG's 164th Airlift Squadron, part of the 179th Airlift Wing, based in Mansfield. The unit previously used Lockheed Martin C-130s.

It is the operational debut for the new Joint Cargo Aircraft, which is designed to provide intra-theatre airlift capabilities. Its primary mission is to support coalition forces at forward operating bases with airlift and airdrop missions. The latter assignment comes from the US Army, and the aircraft are flown by both Air Guard and Army National Guard pilots and loadmasters.

The 702nd EAS began operations on 31 July.

The C-27J Spartans are equipped with a self-protection suite including radar, missile and laser warning systems and a chaff/flare dispensing system.