$4.1bn C-17 aircraft deal set to get bigger, 6 more coming

[pmukherjee]

The two issues are not mutually exclusive. Improvement of border area infrastructure including roads, railway connections, airports, electrification, health, educational facilities etc is long overdue and is of paramount interest for betterment of living conditions of Indians living in these areas. Yes improved communications will also assist in quick build up or side stepping of forces in times of war to meet external threat. But even without a war, which is most of the time, infrastructure improvement has to be undertaken as a part of nation building.

Improvement in air lift capabilities on the other hand are not restricted to the requirements of wars fought on the borders. Yes they do give us the flexibility to quickly inject manpower and weapon systems at the points of decision and thereby positively influencing the outcome of armed conflicts, but improved airlift capabilities also gives us the capabilities of power projection in out of area conflicts where India's interests are affected. It can be useful in influencing conflicts/crises in any of the IOR island territories or in aid to our allies.

 

[sancho]

can some expert throw some light o which option is better... increasing air lift capacity or building physical infra near the eastern border

I'm not an expert, but imo air lifting of MBTs is an advantage when it comes to rapid build up of such force in smaller groups, or in enemy territory, but inside of India, railroad and roads are more important!
For example, if we want to move big numbers of MBTs to a place close to the border, even 16 x C17s will need quit some time to do it, because they can carry only 1 each flight. With good roads, or rail tracks to these regions instead, we could move several of those MBTs at once on transport trucks (also 1 MBT each, but we can have way more of these trucks than C17s), or transport trains. If I'm not wrong, we developed specialised wagons to transport even Arjun on railroad and one of these train can transport several MBTs at once.

 

[sancho]

Oh btw, there was a very interesting post on BR in regard of C17s:

Finally, the current export-control regime impedes the effectiveness of our closest military allies, tests their patience and goodwill, and hinders their ability to coordinate with U.S. forces – this at a time when we count on allies and partners to fight with us in places like Afghanistan and potentially elsewhere. Not too long ago, a British C-17 spent hours disabled on the ground in Australia – not because the needed part wasn’t available, but because U.S. law required the Australians to seek U.S. permission before doing the repair. These are two of our very strongest allies for God’s sake! Similarly, close, long-standing allies and partners like South Korea have bought U.S. aircraft only to encounter difficulties and delays in getting spare parts – something that weakens our bilateral relationships, our credibility, and ultimately American security.

Defense Secretary Gates Launches ITAR Reform Effort | Parabolic Arc


Do we also need US permission every time we want to repair those arms, or can we do the maintenance in India, or do we have to send them abroad? The same issue came up with the F35 sale to Isreal, because the early reports said, they have to send the fighter to Italy for maintenance and repairs. Wonder how the maintenance on C130, P8I, C17 will be done if we buy them?

That's what I mean when I say we just switch the overdependance on Russian arms and their problems on quality and spare supply, to overdepenance on US arms with high restrictions and not beeing sanctionproof. In peacetime the one will be a headache in terms of costs, but in war time the other will be a headache in terms of our security!

 

[luckyyy]

there should be a proper justification on buying a plane(C-17) 10 time costly to the current plane(IL-76) in inventery...

their might be maintanence issues , but it's still cheap to maintain a indica then a merz..

 

[CONNAN]

can some expert throw some light o which option is better... increasing air lift capacity or building physical infra near the eastern border

we need both buddy