IAF gets its first C-17 Globemaster III airlifter

The IAF had contracted for 10 C-17 airlifters for Rs 22,800 cr ($4.12 bn)

India's ability to defend the 3,500-km Sino-India border got a boost on Tuesday with the arrival of its first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, widely regarded as the world's most sophisticated, capable and expensive heavy-lift transport aircraft.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had contracted for 10 C-17 airlifters for Rs 22,800 crore ($4.12 billion), which would make IAF the largest C-17 operator outside the US. Boeing is required to deliver the first five C-17s this year, and the remaining five in 2014.

The IAF is pushing for an additional six C-17s, which would provide a lifeline to the C-17 production line at Long Beach, California. The IAF has until the end of 2013 to place the order, failing which the line would shut down.

The new C-17 squadron -which the IAF has numbered 81 Squadron - is based at Hindon, near Delhi. Ten flight crews - each consisting of two pilots and a loadmaster - are undergoing training at a US Air Force base in Altus, Oklahoma.

The uniquely capable aircraft, which can land and take off with a load of 74 tonnes from a one-km-long stretch of hard unpaved mud, would allow the army to swiftly reinforce threatened sectors along the remote, Himalayan, northern border. In case of a threat to a particular sector, say Daulat Beg Oldi, the C-17 would allow troops, ammunition and equipment to be quickly built up there.

In October 1962, with the China war imminent, the IAF had airlifted light tanks to Ladakh, which were crucial in safeguarding Chushul.

The C-17 can also carry 134 fully-equipped paratroopers over a distance of 10,000 km, allowing the IAF to launch paratroopers anywhere in Asia, most of Europe and Africa, and even parts of Australia.

The C-17 replaces the Russian IL-76, which the IAF had flown since the 1980s but is now obsolescent.

The MoD stated on Tuesday: "The (C-17) aircraft will enhance the operational potential of the IAF with its payload carriage and performance capability and would augment the strategic reach of the Nation during disaster relief or any similar mission."