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For the first time, the IAF will be able to conduct
precision low-level flying operations, airdrops
and landings in blackout conditions as the aircraft
will be equipped with an infrared detection set
(IDS).
And, to ensure 80 percent availability of the
aircraft at any given time, its manufacturer Lockheed
Martin has offered a long-term maintenance contract
to the IAF on the lines of the ones it has with
the US Air Force and the air forces of Australia,
Britain and Canada.
The six aircraft for the IAF are currently on
the production line in a cavernous building the
size of 76 football fields with the first one
due to roll out in December.
“That is when the IAF gets first look at the
aircraft. After flight tests and other trials,
the aircraft will be handed over in the first
quarter of 2011,” Jack Crisler, director of the
C-130J programme, told a group of visiting Indian
journalists, adding that the sixth aircraft was
scheduled for delivery by the end of 2011.
 The
C-130J primarily performs the tactical portion
of an airlift mission. The aircraft is capable
of operating from rough, dirt strips and is the
prime transport for air dropping troops and equipment
into hostile areas.
The flexible design of the Super Hercules enables
it to be configured for many different missions,
allowing for one aircraft to perform the role
of many. Much of the special mission equipment
added to the Super Hercules is removable, allowing
the aircraft to quickly switch between roles.
To this end, the six C-130Js will primarily be
deployed for the operations of the Indian Army’s
Special Forces, even as the IAF mulls the purchase
of another six or more aircraft, some of them
configured as midair refuellers.
“Some of the other six could well be the MC-130J
version,” said Robert A Lowe, Lockheed Martin’s
business development director (Air Mobility),
adding that the tankers could refuel both fixed
wing and rotary aircraft.
As for the maintenance contract, Abhay Paranjape,
Lockheed Martin’s India director for the C-130J
programme, said: “On our part, we have made the
offer, promising 80 percent of aircraft availability
at any given time.
 ”
“We are awaiting the IAF’s response,” he added.
Should this come through, it will be second time
the IAF will have outsourced aircraft maintenance.
Meanwhile, the first of the 18 IAF crews that
will be trained on the C-130J will arrive here
in October. “We are planning to train 18 crews
in three years,” Crisler said.
The C-130Js will operate out of the IAF’s Hindon
Air Base on the outskirts of New Delhi and Lockheed
Martin has already begun constructing facilities
for them at the base.
These include hangers and maintenance facilities,
as also a cockpit simulator and a weapons system
trainer.
“So advanced is the simulator that a pilot can
literally walk from it to the aircraft,” Crisler
said.
(IANS)
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