Indian Air Force To Induct Sixth C-17 Globemaster Heavylift Transport Aircraft On Monday

[doremon]

https://twitter.com/x/status/493763106498048004

just imagine the enormity if 223 planes like this is placed side by side and picture of that would look awesome

 

[Contrarian]

There is an option for 6 more, which wasn't ordered so far, IAF currently operates 17 x IL 76 but we definitely need more numbers of aircrafts, not necessarily more C17s.

The additional 6 are as sure to be ordered as sure the Sun is to rise from the East.

 

[sancho]

The additional 6 are as sure to be ordered as sure the Sun is to rise from the East.

Possible, but that might depend on US government intervening again on reducing the cost and on what number of aircrafts IAF actually wants. Not to mention that it still would be a silly decision, the 10 we have on order are more than enough to cover IAF's strategic operations, what we need is a bigger fleet of aircrafts that can be operated in and around India, in a more effective way.

 

[Contrarian]

Possible, but that might depend on US government intervening again on reducing the cost and on what number of aircrafts IAF actually wants. Not to mention that it still would be a silly decision, the 10 we have on order are more than enough to cover IAF's strategic operations, what we need is a bigger fleet of aircrafts that can be operated in and around India, in a more effective way.

Again, those 6 are coming, regardless of anything else.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Possible, but that might depend on US government intervening again on reducing the cost and on what number of aircrafts IAF actually wants. Not to mention that it still would be a silly decision, the 10 we have on order are more than enough to cover IAF's strategic operations, what we need is a bigger fleet of aircrafts that can be operated in and around India, in a more effective way.

Again, those 6 are coming, regardless of anything else.

There is no real doubt the IAF will go for an additional 6, whether they are needed or not is another discussion- the IAF certainly feels they are so we should defer the decision to them.

 

[Abingdonboy]

 

[sancho]

There is no real doubt the IAF will go for an additional 6, whether they are needed or not is another discussion- the IAF certainly feels they are so we should defer the decision to them.

Since it's a political decision, it's not even on them. Politics decided to go for C17s without evaluation, politics decided that the price Boeing wanted was reduced and now politics might also decide to go for the additional once. That however doesn't mean that it is the best for IAFs operational capability. As I always say, at 26/11 it was not short take off and landing capability, nor 70t payload that we needed to transport special forces and equipment, we needed aircrafts! If we have to limit the number of C17s because of the high price tag, IAF could face the same problem in a similar situation again.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Since it's a political decision, it's not even on them. Politics decided to go for C17s without evaluation, politics decided that the price Boeing wanted was reduced and now politics might also decide to go for the additional once. That however doesn't mean that it is the best for IAFs operational capability. As I always say, at 26/11 it was not short take off and landing capability, nor 70t payload that we needed to transport special forces and equipment, we needed aircrafts! If we have to limit the number of C17s because of the high price tag, IAF could face the same problem in a similar situation again.

Sir let's paint a fuller picture vis a vis the events of 26/11 and the situation today.

The main issue was this, there were no appropriate IAF a/c near to Delhi and the closet one was in Chandigarh (where many of the IAF's IL-76s are based ) so the IL-76 had to fly in from Chandigarh- time lost already.

The situation is vastly improved now:

1) Both C-130J-30s AND C-17s are deployed in Hindon near New Delhi meaning it will take almost no time at all for either the NSG CT task force to travel to Hindon or the C-17/C-130J-30 to fly to IGI airport. Both a/c have very high availability rates as per the OEM's contractual obligations (85% and up) which is a major issue with the IL-76 fleet (hanger queens- high AOG rates).
2) The C-130J-30s are actually dedicated Spec Ops a/c and the IAF specially keeps a few of them on standby for rapid air lift for Spec Ops.
3) If the worst comes to the worst, the NSG now has the authority to requisition any commercial a/c in Indian territory (a power they did not have on 26 November 2008) so if no IAF plane is available (obviously extremely remote) then there will be a plane for the NSG to use guaranteed.

So, in short- there is just NO WAY the IAF/NSG will be in the same mess again.


16 C-17s, 12 C-130J-30s, 56+ C-27J/C-295 and 50+ MTA is a pretty healthy transport fleet in all honesty.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Here she is in the UK on her way over at RAF Brize Norton:

 

[oFFbEAT]

Can India ever make one........tired of being a 'superhero with borrowed muscles'..............

 

[Chanakya's_Chant]

Can India ever make one........tired of being a 'superhero with borrowed muscles'..............

Actually we are making - UAC/HAL Il-214 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Echo_419]

Actually we are making - UAC/HAL Il-214 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The project is tied up in Bureaucratic mess & is neither on the Priority list of Hal or IL,Bas ab sirf Modi Sarkar se hi todhi bahut Hope hai

 

[sancho]

Sir let's paint a fuller picture vis a vis the events of 26/11 and the situation today.

The main issue was this, there were no appropriate IAF a/c near to Delhi and the closet one was in Chandigarh (where many of the IAF's IL-76s are based ) so the IL-76 had to fly in from Chandigarh- time lost already.

The main issue was, that special forces had to be transported from Delhi to Mumbai in the first place and that we had no other forces that were closer. That has been dealt now by placing forces in more of the major cities, but again in the same situation, it would had been the limited number of aircrafts that are in the fleet, which are operated all around India and mainly for strategic roles outside of India. So when most of them are in operations, you simply have not many appropriate aircrafts left. The C130J does not improve the situation much, since it mainly can transport troops only, vehicles, aircrafts and bigger equipment can still be transported only by bigger aircrafts, which again shows the need of a useful fleet of aircrafts that can transport larger sized equipment (not just higher payload) within India itself.

16 C-17s, 12 C-130J-30s, 56+ C-27J/C-295 and 50+ MTA is a pretty healthy transport fleet in all honesty.

Not really, because IAF will be limited to just 16 x aircrafts that can carry larger loads (vehicles, aircrafts, oversized equipment) and with the decision to go for Chinooks, the importance of useful vehicle load capability has only grown! We are running into a capability limitation with open eyes, although our operational needs clearly shows where the problems are (Uttarakhand, disaster relief operations, air transportability of vehicles especially if we want to be prepared for a 2 front war..., or the simple fact that the bulk of the operations will be far below the maximum payload of the C17s, but with oversized loads). Do you honestly think that we can propperly support the operations of a military force that includes millions of troops (just to point out the size of our forces in relation), over a country of the size of India, including operations outside of India, with just 16 x aircrafts capable of carrying larger sized loads?

Russia is planing with around 100 x IL 76 varients + initially around 60 x AN70
France is planing with 50 x A400
Germany is planing with 40 x A400
UK is planing with 22 x A400 + 8 x C17
Japan is planing with around 30 x C2

Lets not even go to compare it with US or Chinese fleets, but when even far smaller countries realize the need of more aircrafts in numbers, not only more bigger aircrafts, to provide propper air transport capability, why does IAF think they can do it with just 16 x aircrafts?

 

[SrNair]

No other country has logistical capabilities which come close to the USA.

BTW, our airlift capability is one of the strongest in Asia.

This machine is the only logistical life line for NE until we finished the NE areas infrastructure.

 

[trident2010]

Beautiful plane !!