The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III was planned to be wound up in 2004, but production has been extended again and again, and the end is not in sight. As the IAF’s C-17s fly their operational missions, perhaps across the globe, they are likely to encounter many other C-17s sporting a variety of flags.

Early next year, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will get a welcome boost in its strategic and tactical airlift capability. The service will induct 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift military transport aircraft in 2013-14. These potent workhorses of the air will gradually replace the worthy but ageing IL-76 fleet. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne, recently said, “The IAF is actually moving very fast towards transforming into a full spectrum strategic capability.” The C-17 will provide the IAF a major push in this direction.

The C-17 is not really a new plane—its maiden flight was over 20 years ago. The US Air Force (USAF) declared its first few C-17s operational in January 1995 and has received 214 aircraft since then. Other customers include the Royal Air Force, the Qatar Emiri Air Force, the Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the United Arab Emirates Air Force and the 12-member Strategic Airlift Capability initiative, between North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Partnership for Peace nations. The C-17s currently entering service, however, are significantly improved versions of the earlier models. They benefit from enhanced fuel capacity, upgraded avionics, additional lighting systems and Honeywell’s IntuVue 3D all-weather radar system. Worldwide, Boeing has completed delivery of 239 C-17s as of November 2011.

Modernising the IAF

The IAF’s C-17 contract is part of its efforts to modernise as fast as possible and take its strategic airlift capability to a much higher level. The massive $4.1 billion ( Rs. 20,500 crore) deal was signed in June 2011 under the US Government’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme. The C-17’s 77-tonne maximum payload is a marked increase over the 45 to 47-tonne capacity of the IL-76—currently the IAF’s sole heavy-lift transport aircraft. Boeing is bound to invest 30 per cent of the contract amount in Indian civilian and military industries, reportedly including a high-altitude engine test facility and tri-sonic wind tunnel facility of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Boeing is likely to accelerate production and deliver the aircraft before the scheduled time. Once the IAF is satisfied with the C-17’s performance, six more may be ordered probably in 2013, and all 16 aircraft are likely to arrive by 2015. The IAF currently has about 20 IL-76 aircraft, and may eventually need up to 25 C-17s. Even with a small number of 10 to 16 aircraft, India will be the C-17’s biggest overseas customer. The planes will be based at Air Force Station, Hindon, near Delhi, but their happy hunting ground will be the remote and austere north and north-eastern Himalayan regions, where a number of airbases are being prepared to receive these sturdy jets.

As it joins the Globemaster Sustainment Partnership (GSP), the IAF is also looking forward to securing enhanced reliability and maintainability—two promised benefits of the C-17 system. The GSP is a performance-based logistics agreement between Boeing and Pratt & Whitney, under which aircraft availability will be guaranteed at a fixed cost. Certain performance figures are assured by Boeing, including an aircraft mission completion success probability rate of 92 per cent, only 20 aircraft maintenance man-hours per flying hour, and full and partial mission availability rates of 74.7 per cent and 82.5 per cent, respectively. After being at the receiving end of poor fleet serviceability states for decades, this will be like a dream come true for the IAF.

Capability Plus

The C-17 is a high-wing, four-engine, T-tail aircraft capable of carrying payloads up to 1,66,000 lb (77 tonnes). It can deliver passengers and cargo over intercontinental distances, provide theatre and strategic airlift in both landing and airdrop modes, and augment aero-medical evacuation and special operations missions. Its design permits delivery of outsize combat cargo and equipment directly into and out of small, austere airfields. It has 54 permanently installed sidewall seats and 18 pallet positions (including four on the ramp). The aircraft is operated by a crew of just three (pilot, co-pilot and loadmaster), reducing manpower requirements, risk exposure, and longterm operating costs. The cockpit has two full-time all-function head-up displays (HUD) and four multi-function active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCD) with conventional instruments as backup. It has sophisticated navigation and communication systems. Its quadruple-redundant electronic flight control system (EFCS) also has a mechanically-actuated backup system.

Significant features of the C-17 include supercritical wing design and winglets to reduce drag and provide increased fuel efficiency and range; receiver in-flight refuelling capability; externally blown-flap configuration, direct lift control spoilers and high impact landing gear system; forward and upward thrust reverser system that provides backup capability, reduces the aircraft ramp space requirements, and minimises the interference of dust, debris, and noise on ground; and cargo handling systems that require a single loadmaster that permit immediate offloading without special equipment. During testing, C-17s have reportedly set 33 world records, including payload to altitude, time-to-climb, and the short take-off and landing mark, in which a C-17 got airborne in less than 1,400 ft, lifted a payload of 44,000 lb to altitude and landed in less than 1,400 ft. The aircraft cruises at Mach 0.74 to 0.77 and has an unrefuelled range of 2,420 nautical miles with a payload of 1,60,000 lb. The key to its impressive performance are the powerful F117-PW-100 engines that power every single C-17.