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US Air Force (USAF) would be flown to India on
June 19, possibly to Bangalore first, for technical
checks of the fuselage, seating, engines, para
jumping and loading and unloading systems by Indian
Air Force (IAF) test pilots. It would go through
the routine checks of operating in humid, hot
and rarefied environment at Bangalore, Jaisalmer
and Leh, something which is a fundamental requirement
for all IAF combat and transport assets due to
the geographical terrain of the country.
Although the IAF has itself asked the Government
for an initial batch of 10 C 17s, confirmation
of the aircraft’s required capabilities by the
test pilots would formally seal the process from
the Indian side, and the Ministry of Defence would
then give its endorsement and forward a note to
the US Government. Washington would follow with
the procedural Letter of Acceptance (LOA) in response
to New Delhi’s Letter of Request (LoR) for the
aircraft to be acquired under a Government to
Government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.
This would be India’s single biggest defence
acquisition agreement yet with the US ever in
terms of money, estimated in the industry to be
between four to 5.8 billion USD, depending on
what the IAF requires in terms of onboard assets,
capabilities, spares and maintenance support duration.
 It
may be recalled that the IAF Chief of Staff, Air
Chief Marshal P V Naik, had told India Strategic
last year that IAF was looking for 10 plus 10
C 17s, described in its parlance as VHTAC, or
Very Heavy Transport Aircraft, as a replacement
of its ageing fleet of Soviet vintage IL 76 transport
jets as also to augment its strategic lift capability
in the coming years.
At present, the Ministry of Defence has apparently
approved the acquisition of only 10 of these aircraft.
As for the FMS, by law the US Government is not
supposed to make any profit or loss on a deal
but it would charge an administrative fee, after
calculating the costs in terms of manpower and
hours spent in facilitating and overseeing the
agreement till its fruition and beyond till possibly
the lifetime of the equipment.
The minimum fee for FMS is 2.5 percent, and the
maximum five perent. In this case, sources told
India Strategic, it has been calculated
at 3.8 percent.
The fee is charged only from those countries
which pay for the equipment. That is, those who
receive military systems as aid, as for instance
in the case of Israel or Pakistan, the fee is
waved off and notionally picked up by the US Department
of State as a matter of foreign policy assisstance.
Boeing’s Vice President for Global Mobility Systems
Tommy Dunehew told a group of visiting Indian
journalists at the C 17’s manufacturing facility
at Long Beach that normally it should take about
three years to supply the first aircraft after
an agreement is signed, but Boeing could deliver
all the 10 aircraft within two years.
 Every
programme has to end somewhere, and as Boeing
has only the last 24 aircraft in its order book
for the USAF, and another 20 for other countries,
it could comfortably juggle with the orders to
meet various requirements.
USAF has a total of 223 aircraft of order, and
the 199th C 17 is already on pre-delivery flying
tests before being sent to its designated squadron
June-end. This aircraft was shown to an invited
Indian media team.
Col Kelly Latimer, a former USAF pilot whose
laughter matches the respect she commands in flying
this huge aircraft, was at hand to explain the
capabilities of the C 17 in peacetime for humanitarian
missions as well as in the battlefield to airdrop
special forces personnel, material or to pick
up injured and wounded from short unpaved grassy
fields in the thick of battle.
The area around the landing field has to be sanitized
though, as for any transport aircraft or helicopter
in a battle zone, with the help of fighter and
combat helicopter cover.
Dunehew says that despite its massive size, the
aircraft can be operated by two pilots and one
loadmaster – which can be a lady – thanks to its
automated systems. Nonetheless, other personnel
are needed occasionally depending upon the nature
of the cargo.
Col Latimer and some other pilots and men would
be flying in the borrowed USAF C 17 to India to
“prove” its capabilities.
The aircraft is in fact the lifeline of US and
NATO troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its operational
capabilities have already been displayed informally
to IAF officers on various occasions, including
at the Aero India shows in Bangalore.
A C 17 can carry one Heavy life Chinook or two
Apache helicopters after folding their wings,
and even the Indian Army’s 60-tonne Heavy Arjun
Main Battle Tank (MBT).
As compared to the Il 76’s 45 tonnes, the C 17
can carry about 75 tonnes. But no aircraft is
generally flown to its full load. The consumption
of fuel is also depends on the load factor, runway
length, angle of lift and cruising speed. The
 C
17 has slightly better fuel efficiency than the
IL 76.
According to Air Marshal Ashok Goel (Retd), India
Strategic’s Aviation Editor, the acquisition
of the Boeing C 17 Globemaster-III as well as
that of Lockheed Martin’s C 130J Super Hercules
should be “timely acquisitions” for the IAF, well
ahead of the phase-out of IL 76 and the smaller
AN 12 transport aircraft.
He said that the US in fact had first offered
the C 17 to India in 1998 and brought it to New
Delhi for display to the IAF.
The Air Marshal observed that it takes about
five years to assimilate an aircraft into the
system in terms of pilot training and infrastructure,
and by the time the older aircraft are due to
retire, these new aircraft would be “in the bloodstream
of IAF.”
Although both the IL 76 and AN 32 aircraft have
done more than 25 years of flying, these are still
good for another 10-12 years after some upgrades.
As per the OEM manufacturers of the erstwhile
Soviet Union though, which had supplied these
aircraft, their life was only about 20 years,
he observed.
Air Marshal Goel, who had brought in the first
IL 76 to India in April 1985, says IAF had not
used them fully and there was considerable life
left in them. The only limitations are lack of
spares, which is generally for every system procured
from the Soviet Union, and some modern electronics
of recent origin.
Otherwise, the (less than 20) IL 76 aircraft
“have all proved very useful and valuable to IAF
in giving it strategic lift capability.”
 Air
Marshal Goel had landed the first IL 76 at Leh,
much against the specifications of the Soviet
manufacturers, and also carried Indian troops
in them to Maldives in 1988 to assist the Government
there against a coup.
The IL 76 is out of production since the demise
of the Soviet Union 15 years ago, and most of
its serviceable units have been purchased by China.
Although Russia has provided more powerful and
fuel-effi cient engines for the three IL 76 aircraft
that IAF is fitting with Israeli Phalcon AWACS
with, the cost of modification, integration and
maintenance of new systems on them is regarded
as too high.
IAF also has six IL 76 midair refueller aircraft.
Dunehew says that while he would not comment
on the capability of IL 76, he would say that
“the C 17 is matchless, and that there is no aircraft
anywhere with its size, performance and short
takeoff (from 3500 feet grassy/ unpaved runways)
and landing capabilities.” The C 17 flies with
the ease of a fighter jet, just with a joystick,
and takes off at very steep angles in a battlefield
to get away. It can also operate as an air ambulance.
Aircraft seats are oversize and adjustable so
as to accommodate 112 fully loaded paratroopers
with their backpacks, and two of them can jump
simultaneously from two different doors.
The C 17 has been in operations since 1993, and
has undergone periodic upgrades. The current generation
is called Block 18, and that is what is on offer
to India and other countries now.
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