The Scorpios that Modi already travels in are armoured but that's irrelevant, the level of armouring that can be done to the Scorpios is still INCREDIBLY inferior to the BMW 7 Series Security's armour. BMW's Security line is known globally for its quality. Even with armouring the Scopios would go for maybe $30,000 the BMW 760 Li Security will come to around $200,000- you get what you pay for.
Well neither do China, Russia, Brazil, Germany, Japan etc etc point taken but it's a bit unrealistic at this stage to expect India to have a 747 alternative.
Chinese have the plane completely modified from within. in 2003 when their first presidential 747s were ordered, there was a big scandal of US bugging the aircraft that Chinese found. The aircraft then were returned and new ones were ordered. After ordering, Chinese stripped them down and changed the internal systems with their own (or so a news report had said).
And Russia does have an alternative. IL-96PU which is what Putin flies in.
the IAF has 3 of these birds. However the range of them is so limited that they are only used for DOMESTIC transport by the PM/Pres. For international visits the IAF still uses an Air India 747 not to mention the 747 is larger so when travelling to foreign nations the PM/Pres is able to take a lot more staff and members of govt.
Exactly my point. But we need more fuel efficient aircraft to save on government costs. 747s are old now what Air India has and consume too much money for maintenance and fuel. Therefore we may need to replace them with A350s which are leaner but can carry all the staff needed, have long range and are latest.
Let's face it; we never carry more staff in any of our flights to outfill a 300+ seater aircraft.
So why do we need a 500-seater old vintage aircraf that guzzles fuel and is expensive to maintain today?
AFAIK the SPG/IAF were evaluating purchasing new wide-bodied airliners to replace the 747s but this has not been done yet. None of the 787s were meant for this role as far as I am aware.
Not 787s but if we can ask France to make a couple of A350 of VVIP configuration, they surely won't mind more orders. Besides, they are pretty tight with Indian government.
They already make VVIP versions of Airbus A330 for heads of state. Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan flies one.
Apparently the 777s were meant to do this but afaik the 747s are STILL being used for this role
747s are just for grandiose now. The new 8i series are amazing (flew in one with Lufthansa some months ago), but we are talking about a different need.
We need practical use; not grandiose. And a class E aircraft like A350 or even a latest A330 is good enough.
