Indian Air Force lands massive C-17 Globemaster transport plane close to the China border

[Tuchha]

With eye on China, Indian Air Force lands massive C-17 Globemaster transport plane close to the border

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday successfully landed a C-17Globemaster transport aircraft at the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh. The move is aimed at calibrating India's response capabilities at the border with China.

ALGs are airstrips close to the international border. They play a critical role in the defense of the border in remote areas, by enabling the armed forces to either quickly deliver troops to a particular region or supply rations to troops already stationed in remote areas.


This is part of a larger efforts of the Air Force to test and increase its capabilities at the ALGs. The C-17 Globemaster+ - inducted into the IAF in 2013 - is among the largest military transport planes in service and the fact that the Air Force can land it at any ALGs signifies an expansion of the overall military capability in that region.

So far, a vast majority of the ALGs have been served by smaller transport aircraft like the AN-32. To put that in perspective, the AN-32 is capable of carrying no more than 50 soldiers at a time, while the Globemaster can carry close to thrice than number.

As part of similar efforts at increasing its capacities along the eastern extremity of the border with China, the Air Force had landed a C-130 J Super Hercules+ medium-left transport aircraft at the Daulat Beg Oldi ALG close to Siachen in August 2013.

https://twitter.com/x/status/794163724500156416

 

[Blue Marlin]

WOW! nobody cares.
i would imagine this would be a " responce " to china where as i see it as a normal landing, at most demonstrating the capabilities of the c-17.

 

[nang2]

WOW! nobody cares.
i would imagine this would be a " responce " to china where as i see it as a normal landing, at most demonstrating the capabilities of the c-17.

yawn

 

[#hydra#]

Pity we didn't ordered more of this kind.

 

[Mustang06]

About time. This plane was inducted for specific reason!

 

[oFFbEAT]

Really, nobody cares............
Are we falling short of things to boast?

 

[SSGcommandoPAK]

Pity we didn't ordered more of this kind.

Off topic but sir can you tell me what happened to The IAF Antonov-32 transport aircraft which went missing on july 22nd ? It had 29 people on board .

 

[#hydra#]

Off topic but sir can you tell me what happened to The IAF Antonov-32 transport aircraft which went missing on july 22nd ? It had 29 people on board .

It chasing mh370

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Americans are back in South Asia.

LEMOA, Globemasters and soon F-16's.

 

[Echo_419]

Americans are back in South Asia.

LEMOA, Globemasters and soon F-16's.

F-16 ain't coming to India and Americans never left South Asia

 

[Hindustani78]

The aircraft landed at the high altitude Mechuka Advanced Air Landing Ground, which is just 29 km from the border, which is 3,500 km long from Ladakh in the west Himalayas and Arunachal Pradesh in the east Himalayas.

The successful mission gives a major boost to the country's rapid airlift capability for forward operations and troop deployment in border areas, Menchuka being just 29 kilometers from the border with China.

It was a perfect combination of a state-of-the-art technology and skills of IAF's pilots that made it possible to land such a big military aircraft at an elevation of 6200 ft with a landing surface only 4200 feet long.

The Menchuka ALG, which was re-activated earlier this year in May, was non-functional since 2013 following its reconstruction work along with the ALGs of Aalo, Ziro, Tuting, Pasighat and Tezu.

Situated along the international border, Mechuka was one of the strategic locations during the Indo-China war in 1962. The McMohan Line is around 40 km from Mechuka town. The remoteness of the area can be gauged from the fact that it takes two days by road to travel to area from Dibrugarh, the nearest railhead.

The IAF had started its operations with Dakota and Otter in 1962 in the area and subsequently the Antonov-32, popularly known as AN-32, was operated till October 2013 before the reconstruction work was started.


First Published: Thursday, November 3, 2016 - 18:53

 

[Hamza913]

Wow! They landed a plane! Now that's something you don't see everyday!

Seriously, this means nothing. It's just a plane landing.

 

[Hindustani78]

Indian Air Force’s mighty C-17 Globemaster aircraft on Thursday made its first landing at Mechuka, just 29 km from Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.

 

[Riz]

Is this even a news ? Wtf these Indians want to prove ..lol I saw a post in indian forum today where there army claiming we saw white flags over pak posts ...hahahaa and also due to befitting response no seas fire violation happens from past two days...

 

[C130]

India needs to buy another 10 from the U.S and have Boeing set up a factory in India to build and maintain them.


keeps U.S workers working for another few years, and gives India more lift capability.