Lockheed Martin’s Super Hercules C-130J would be inducted into IAF by early February. It would herald the re-introduction of the US-built military transport aircraft into the IAF after a gap of five decades.

The Indian Capital’s chilly winter weather notwithstanding, Delhibased Western Air Command has much to cheer as it rolls out the red carpet for the January (latest first week of February) to receive the first Super Hercules C-130J for the newly formed No. 77 Squadron, to be located at the nearby Hindon Air Force Station. From getting the governmental nod in early 2008 to its induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF), the C-130J programme has been one of the fastest as the arrival of the first Super Hercules could well beat the stipulated three-year production period. It would also herald re-introduction of the US-built military transport aircraft into the IAF after a gap of five decades.

The US aircraft, such as the ubiquitous Dakota DC-3 of World War II vintage were the first to debut in the transport fleet of the IAF established soon after India’s independence. Post-1962, Sino-Indian conflict these were augmented by the Fairchild Packet C-119G transporters. In the subsequent years, however, IAF leaned heavily on the Soviet Union for military equipment, receiving the An-12s in the 1960s followed by the medium-lift An-32 and heavy-lift IL-76 aircraft in the 1980s. Russian military transport aircraft are rugged, reliable and powerful but generally are heavy on the controls and require pilots with as much muscle as brain power to operate. And while the IAF transport crews flew the Russian aircraft with a great degree of skill and confidence, there was always a longing to try their hands at western transports, especially the C-130 Hercules which was known both for crew comfort and exceptional operational attributes and has been operating in a large number of air forces around the globe. It may be worth noting that interest in the C-130 had been evinced in some quarters of the IAF in the early 1970s but for various reasons including the geopolitics of the Cold War, the idea too remained in cold storage. It could not fructify even after a large vacuum had been created in the IAF’s air transport capabilities in the 20-tonne payload class with the retirement of the Russian workhorse in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

First flown in 1954, different versions of the 20-tonne class C-130 aircraft are used by more than 60 nations in the world. During its years of service, the Hercules has participated in countless military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. In 2007, the C-130 became the fifth aircraft—after the English Electric Canberra, B-52 Stratofortress, Tupolev Tu-95, and KC-135 Stratotanker—to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer, in this case, the United States Air Force. The C-130 is also the only military aircraft to remain in continuous production for 50 years and still continuing in its latest avatar C-130J/C-130J-30 (the stretched version), the ‘Super Hercules’.

The Super Hercules is a more powerful and more rugged version of the earlier Hercules with the capability to operate from short, semi-prepared runways in ‘hot and high’ conditions—most suited for India’s ‘Himalayan’ airfields and advanced landing grounds (ALGs) at Leh, Thoise and beyond. With a computer-controlled automated cargo handling system, the aircraft is also capable of pinpoint accuracy in paradrops. Equipped with an impressive array of avionics, such as forward looking infra red (FLIR), head-up display (HUD) and sophisticated navigational aids, it can operate accurately in all-weather conditions without loss of performance. It can even operate from and to an unlit airstrip in complete darkness. For self-protection, it carries missile warning and counter-measures systems of the large aircraft infra red countermeasure (LAIRCM) class. In almost all respects, the C-130J is reported to be clearly ahead of its contemporaries from Europe or Russia.