With India’s emerging status as a regional power, the nation will indeed require the capability of swift response and power projection to safeguard its national security interests transcending international borders

On December 12, 2011, the Indian Air Force (IAF) reportedly simulated a piracy contingency at Campbell Bay in Nicobar Islands (the furthermost Island territory of India) based on an intelligence input that an Indian merchant ship had been hijacked with hostages. The simulated launch of the long-range special operation mission was successfully accomplished using a C-130J as airborne platform.

The above report clearly illustrates the IAF’s reliance on C-130J Super Hercules to carry out ‘special operations’ tasks, and the speed and seriousness with which its air warriors are honing their skills to achieve the necessary operational capabilities. Within a short time span since its formal induction into the IAF on February 5, 2011, the IAF’s Super Hercules aircraft have been involved in myriad air transport roles including disaster relief operations for the victims of the recent Sikkim earthquake. The newly raised No. 77 Squadron ‘Veiled Vipers’, based at Hindon Air Force Station near Delhi has already received all six C-130J aircraft of the first order. The order was completed considerably short of the scheduled delivery timeframes, eliciting highly enthused response from the IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne who stated, “For the first time perhaps in our history, the aircraft came before time and that has actually helped us keep moving.”

The C-130J aircraft fills the vacuum created long ago with the retirement of An-12s in the early 1990s, finally bridging the gap in the 20-tonne payload capability. But clearly, the acquisition of just six of these airplanes would be grossly inadequate to meet the IAF’s requirements in this class. There are strong indications that India would order another lot of six more C-130Js in the near future for the IAF, to be based in ‘Charbatia’ to cater to the requirements of the country’s eastern region. To boost the IAF’s capabilities in the 15 to 20-tonne payload category, India had also planned to co-develop/co-produce a medium airlift aircraft (MTA) through a joint venture (JV) with Russia, with a projected maximum payload of 18.5 tonnes. Apparently, the JV is encountering some contractual problems, and in the probably remote likelihood of it being called off, the need to induct more C-130Js to equip at least two full-fledged squadrons—if not more—would definitely exist. The Indo-Russian JV, it may be recalled, has provision for 45 and 100 MTA for India and Russia, respectively.

A quick glance at the IAF’s present transport aircraft fleets (other than C-130J) says that the IAF has the following:

It is worth noting that all four types mentioned in the above list have crossed the midway mark of their respective service life with some of them suffering from serious deficiencies, making it difficult to hold respectable serviceability states. For example, the IAF’s present fleet of 17 or so IL-76 heavy airlifters has been plagued with poor serviceability due to perennial problems of spares and maintenance support including delays in overhauls which have to be conducted abroad in the absence of the requisite facilities in India. The situation fluctuates from poor to so grim that at times the IAF is unable to field more than a pair of these airplanes for operational tasks. Apart from the resulting serious erosion in its heavy-lift capability, the IAF has been subjected to undesirable embarrassment at the highest level. But now, there is a silver lining amongst the dark clouds of deprivation.

The crying need for the IAF to spruce up its strategic heavy-lift capability and ever-growing strategic partnership with the US, including enhanced defence relations, seemed to have fused together to facilitate India signing a landmark deal to acquire Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III airlifters from the US. From the very inception to the signing of the contract, it turned out to be one of the fastest defence deals as far as the IAF is concerned. It was in June 2009, the IAF selected the C-17 to fulfill its very heavy-lift transport aircraft (VHETAC) requirements. It took precisely two years for the proposal to go through the intricate politico-bureaucratic process and the deal was signed for 10 aircraft in June 2011, in accordance with the US Government’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme, under a government-to-government deal worth $4.1 billion ( Rs. 20,500 crore). There is an option for six more aircraft built into the contract, to be ordered at a later date. Air Chief Marshal Browne revealed during a recently conducted interview that Boeing would deliver all the already ordered 10 aircraft between 2013 and 2014, which means that the first aircraft would be inducted into the IAF within two years of signing the contract. He went on to state that once the IAF was satisfied with its performance, six more C-17s would be ordered. “By 2015, the induction of all the 16 aircraft should be complete,” he added. This augurs well for the IAF in quickly building up its strategic/tactical heavy-lift capability. The C-17 with a max 77 tonnes payload far outstrips the IL-76 (max payload approx 47 tonnes) that it will initially complement and may replace totally, as the years go by.

If the planned inductions and the Indo-US JV fructify as planned, in terms of tonnages, there is little doubt that in the 2020s, the airlift capability with the IAF will be considerably enhanced compared to what exists today. However, the transport fleet will be heavily weighted in favour of medium- to heavy-lift aircraft (C-17, C-130J, MTA). With India’s emerging status as a regional power and the new responsibilities of ensuring peace and stability in the region, the nation will indeed require this capability of swift response and power projection to safeguard its national security interests transcending international borders. But for tasks during airborne assault operations such as insertion of troops into dropping zones of restricted dimensions, decoy missions, resupply operations, air maintenance of troops deployed in the forward locations in the northern and north-eastern border areas of the country, as also for rapid deployment of small size security forces within the country to meet various contingencies, the IAF will require aircraft in sizeable numbers with payload capability ranging between five and 10 tonnes.