[DrPriyankT]

The Indian Airforce yesterday officially inducted the Boeing C-17 III Globemaster Aircraft into its fleet. They will be based at Hindon Airforce Base near New Delhi. It will be operated by the No 81 Squadron nicknamed " Skylords". IAF has signed a deal worth 4.1 Billion Dollars in 2011 for 10 such heavy lifters and it holds options for 6 more. It may even order beyond the 6 options to augment its heavy lift capacity. The transports are powered by 4 Pratt and Whitney F117-PW-100 engines which each generate around 180 kionewtons of thrust at full thrust. These engines are derivatives of the Pratt and Whitney PW 2000 high bypass turbofans which power the Boeing 757. They can carry nearly 80 tones of cargo in its fully pressurized cargo bay, which means it can carry an Arjun Tank or 2 BMP-2 Armoured Personnel Carriers or 2 AH-64D Block 3 helicopters(under induction) all the way till Ladakh or just to rub it to the Chinese till Daulat Begi Oldi Airfield 7 Kilometers away from the China Border. A C-130J Hercules was enough to make them notice, guess what a Globemaster can do. Aside from equipment, it can carry around 150 paratroopers or 54 ambulatory soldiers with medical personnel.

The Aircraft is going to replace the venerable IL-76MD Soviet built transport aircraft which could carry around 40 Tons of cargo. The Globemaster is going to be much more fuel efficient than the IL-76 which has low bypass Soliev turbofans. It will have a full glass cockpit with a crew of just 3 airmen(2 pilots and 1 loadmaster) compared to 7-8 crew on the Soviet plane( 2 Pilots, a flight engineer, a radio officer, a navigator and 2 loadmasters). The C-17 can land on gravel or poorly prepared short frontline runways with a full load and at high altitude thanks to its gravel kit, high mounted engines, and slatted wings.

The IL-76 if I am not wrong fares poorly on gravel runways. The Globemaster in trials landed at the Gaggal/Bhuntar airport next to the Beas River in Kullu,HP to prove its abilities. The runway there is just 4700 feet. It needs very little runway to take off to. In July the Globemaster carried a whole brigades equipment to the strategically located Andaman and Nicobar Islands prior to the rotational deployment on the islands. This aircraft also can be refueled inflight which greatly extends its 5000km range at full payload. It can carry paratroops till 10000 km non stop. It is also equipped with the latest defensive mechanisms to prevent it from getting hit by radar or infrared guided SAM's.

This aircraft all in all will provide a superb filip to the IAF's already awesome abilities allowing it to airlift large cargoes across long distances in times of need.

P.S: Picture is from Wikipedia. It is picture of the first IAF Globemaster during a training mission in USA

[Mpower]

Interesting. Is this the first time IAF has picked an American product over Soviet/French/Brirish?

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Interesting. Is this the first time IAF has picked an American product over Soviet/French/Brirish?

India already has 6 C-130J Super Hercules with them procured from US based at Hindon.
We also have Gulfstream jets for Recon as well as had few aircrafts from the US, one of them being McDowell Douglas Dakota.

[AdityaLN]

The plane is huge!! Have seen it land a couple of times in HAL Airport in Bangalore (not sure if it was the IAF one or USAF one, missed the markings). It gets bigger and bigger as it approaches the runway. My new Office is located adjacent to the runway, so counting different planes seen every day is a new hobby we have picked up

[Gansan]

Well, aren't they (USA) holding back some codes / equipment from us because we are not signatories to some of their conditions?

[IronH4WK]

that is one hulk of a transporter! this is sure going to be a game changer!

here's the C-17 at the Aero India 2013. watch the last part where it lands; almost stops on a dime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbVb9hW5S9o

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Interesting. Is this the first time IAF has picked an American product over Soviet/French/Brirish?

Well, the answer is no!

In the past, IAF has operated American aircraft like the Dakota (transport), B 24 Liberator (bomber) and Sikorsky S 55 (helicopter), all phased out long ago. More recently, IAF has acquired a special version of the C-130 Hercules (transport) which incidentally also saw action during the 1962 Indo-China War when they were sent by USAF to India upon request. IAF also operated the Russian copy of C-130, the An 12 which again have been phased out long ago. Indian Navy has recently acquired P-8 maritime reconnaissance planes which are derived from Boeing 737 but are armed.

It is shameful that the country still does not make its own planes while China can. India has the dubious distinction of being the world's largest arms importer.

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Shifting Gears as an IAF aircraft is not a commercial vehicle.

[999]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Well, aren't they (USA) holding back some codes / equipment from us because we are not signatories to some of their conditions?

Yes, they did. We are not given all of them. The main deal breaker was that they are subject to American inspection to make sure we follow their terms. There is a similar clause on all American military equipment sold to non allied countries. One of the reasons for going for the French fighters is that they had no such clauses.

[DrPriyankT]

Then IAF was a descendant of the Royal Indian Airforce and they had a multitude of post World War II American aircraft which included the B-24 Liberator which was a heavy bomber, a Douglas D-3 Dakota which was a utility transport and the Fairchild C-117 Packet STOL transport. STOL=Short Takeoff and Landing. Till 2011 we didn't operate a single American military plane. We then acquired 2011 onwards, 6 C-130J Super Hercules with orders for 6 more, 8 Boeing P-8 I Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft with possible orders for 8 more and 10 C-17 III Globemaster strategic transports with possible 6+ aircraft. We also plan to acquire the CH-47F Chinook heavy helicopters to replace the Russian Mi-26 copters and 22 AH-64D Block III attack choppers. Indian Navy wants to acquire the Global Hawk Long Range High Altitude UAV for marine surveillance and the E-2D Hawkeye as a Carrierborne AWACS.

Originally Posted by Gansan

Well, aren't they (USA) holding back some codes / equipment from us because we are not signatories to some of their conditions?

India didn't sign the American communications interoperability treaty so we didn't get American built GPS system for the Globemaster, we instead and installed French and Israeli systems to do the same job.

Note from Support - Posts merged. Please use the Multi-Quote feature to reply to multiple posts, instead of submitting back to back posts. Thanks!

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by DrPriyankT

Then IAF was a descendant of the Royal Indian Airforce and they had a multitude of post World War II American aircraft which included the B-24 Liberator which was a heavy bomber, a Douglas D-3 Dakota which was a utility transport and the Fairchild C-117 Packet STOL transport.

IAF didn't inherit the Packets from RIAF. They were inducted into the IAF only in 1954. Check this:

http://iaf00.tripod.com/packet.html